Functional Safety for Non-Road Vehicles Survey Results

Interested in learning about what your colleagues and peers believe are the most pressing issues regarding functional safety for non-road vehicles? Can the various machine and non-road norms and standards be combined to simplify the functional safety landscape?
We surveyed our international contacts working in and around the non-road vehicle industry to help illustrate the key obstacles and needs of companies as well as future potential with regard to functional safety. Here is an overview of the results.

Functional Safety Non-Road Survey Results PDF

The automotive industry has one main overarching standard for functional safety, the ISO 26262. The functional safety landscape for non-road vehicles is significantly more cluttered. As many non-road vehicles also function as machines, multiple safety guidelines may be relevant. Engineers may have to work with the IEC 62061, ISO 13849, and ISO 25119 (tractors, forestry machinery and municipal equipment) as examples.

When asked if functional safety norms for non-road vehicles can be merged to reduce their number, 93% of respondents said "Yes." There is clearly a sense of urgency behind this topic.

Challenges in Functional Safety

Automotive IQ asked what in particular is challenging for the non-road industry with respect to functional safety and found that nearly 83% of those surveyed feel the industry lacks engineers with specialized functional safety experience. Another challenge commonly noted by 1 out of every 2 surveyed is the rapid growth of complex safety relevant systems. Perhaps functional safety consultancies can help to fill the void in this important niche within the industry as many companies simply do not possess the resources to have dedicated staff trained to keep up with the various norms and standards.

"We need more functional-safety thinking in the universities to get better educated engineers. There is a lot of work to do. In my opinion the most important issue. 2. Hydraulic systems of the machines have to become safer. This takes several years but we have to work on it and give incentives to people and companies who work on it. 3. Work on the norms; give norms to universities and young people who are interested in the topic…"

Working Toward Solutions

Our survey asked what could drive complementary solutions for the variety of non-road vehicles and nearly half of respondents favored focusing on applying the ISO 26262 norm for the non-road industry.There also appears to be a need for discussion in cross industrial development groups. Such discussion groups could present an opportunity to begin the process of combining and simplifying the norms that exist.

Future Potential

Mobile phone apps and remote control of multiple non-road machines are two ideas that are being discussed as areas of potential development however, 50% of those surveyed responded that cyber-physical systems are an area with future potential.

This article detailing the results of the Functional Safety Survey for Non-Road Vehicles is Brought to you by Automotive IQ

Will Hornick is the Managing Editor of Automotive IQ