40% of software developers in the automotive industry believe that safety is their top priority, according to a survey.

Perforce Software, a DevOps solution provider, questioned over 400 automotive technology professionals globally.

It was also revealed that 20% of software developers think that quality is their biggest worry in the motor industry and 14% consider it to be security.

Obtaining standards

Of those who believe safety to be their highest priority, almost half (49%) feel that obtaining every part of ISO 26262, an international safety standard for vehicles, is having the biggest impact on their safety goal.

Richard Bellairs, product marketing manager for Perforce, commented on the results of the survey, saying: “It’s no surprise that safety is top of mind for automotive developers.

“Every software component added to a vehicle must be developed with safety in mind, or else it could be disastrous.”

Connected and autonomous vehicle development

One major influence on development teams is connected and autonomous vehicle development, with 74% working on connected components of some sort. Moreover, 70% of employees work on projects impacted by autonomous vehicles.

“Connected and autonomous vehicles are the future of the industry,” said Bellairs. “And, safety and security will remain the top concerns for these teams.”

The survey also revealed that to ensure a safe, reliable and secure code, 72% of participants use a coding standard. 53% of these use software development guidelines from the Motor Industry Software Reliable Association (MISRA©) and 66% use a static code analyser.

“Static analyzers are the best way to enforce coding standards and deliver conformant code,” said Bellairs.