UL Solutions New Approach to Cybersecurity in Automotive Industry: Integrating Functional Safety and Cybersecurity Teams
March 2, 2023
UL Solutions is leveraging its collective expertise to drive innovation in automotive safety by combining members of its functional safety and cybersecurity teams to enable a more holistic approach to testing, inspection and certification for automotive safety. This new interdisciplinary team provides a well-rounded approach to addressing advanced mobility technologies.
As safety, security and quality are highly interrelated and a vital part of the automotive industry, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and automotive component and system suppliers are increasingly looking for a sole provider with holistic solutions that support multiple standards, regulations and other technical requirements.
“Our newly combined team provides OEMs and suppliers with end-to-end thinking to address evolving challenges in cybersecurity, functional safety, automated driving and Automotive Software Process Improvement Capability Determination, or Automotive SPICE,” said Jody Nelson, managing director of functional safety and cybersecurity in the Identity Management and Security group at UL Solutions. “This broad expertise proves critical when developing control systems for safety-related applications as vehicles become more interconnected with numerous external devices, networks and systems.”
Preparing for Cybersecurity in the Future
In a future where most vehicles are fully electric, dependency shifts from gas stations and fossil fuels to charging stations and electricity. The resiliency of electric vehicle charging systems and the electric power grid becomes increasingly essential for transportation amid the rising popularity of electric vehicles (EV) and the potential for cyberattacks. Combining automotive cybersecurity and functional safety expertise better prepares UL Solutions to address these emerging challenges in electrification.
The team’s integrated expertise also helps automotive OEMs and suppliers to navigate new and evolving requirements from the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), China Compulsory Certification (CCC), United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), and other applicable standards and regulations for new mobility technologies, including:
- UN Regulation No. 155 – Cyber security and cyber security management system
- UN Regulation No. 156 – Software update and software update management system
- ISA/IEC 62443, Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems
- ETSI EN 303 645, Cybersecurity Standard for Consumer IoT Devices
- The Cyber Resilience Act
- The Radio Equipment Directive (RED)
- ISO/SAE 21434, Road vehicles – Cybersecurity engineering
- ISO 24089, Road vehicles – Software update engineering
Launching this team further builds on UL Solutions’ commitment to the automotive industry. The company recently took another significant step to help advance automotive safety and better serve OEMs and suppliers by acquiring Kugler Maag Cie, a German-based provider of process excellence, assessment and training solutions supporting the automotive industry. With this acquisition, UL Solutions enhances its services to provide customers with testing and certification of automotive processes and safety-critical system services.
