Codethink has achieved a positive and complete functional safety assessment for its Eclipse Trustable Software Framework (TSF).
Performed by Exida, an authority in functional safety, the assessment was conducted in accordance with IEC 61508 requirements, with domain experts ensuring full alignment and compatibility with ISO 26262, the automotive industry’s functional safety standard. Codethink says the evaluation represents a major milestone in its mission to transform how the world engineers, verifies and trusts software.
The assessment concluded that, when considering the process objectives of both IEC 61508 and ISO 26262, the Trustable Software Framework and its reference implementation provide an approach to software development that aligns with – and in many cases surpasses – the rigor and requirements defined for SIL 3 software under IEC 61508.
The report adds that organizations implementing the TSF according to the reference model can proceed with confidence to measure their progress toward future certification and ensure they meet the requirements for a successful assessment.
“This assessment validates that trust in software, especially open source, can be both measurable and auditable”, said Paul Sherwood, Codethink chairman. “Functional safety is no longer a checkbox, it’s a design principle. The Eclipse Trustable Software Framework gives organizations the means to demonstrate integrity at every stage of development.”
The Eclipse Trustable Software Framework defines six tenets: provenance, construction, changes, expectations, results and confidence, each mapped to the objectives of IEC 61508 and ISO 26262. This structure enables companies to align open source and proprietary development with safety-critical rigor, ensuring traceability and reproducibility from concept to deployment.
By embedding these principles directly into everyday engineering workflows, TSF bridges the divide between compliance and innovation.
John Ellis, president USA and head of product at Codethink, said, “Codethink’s recent TSF functional safety assessment underscores a pivotal shift for the automotive sector, from static, checklist-based compliance to a model of continuous, evidence-driven assurance. The assessors concluded that ‘Trustable sets out an approach to software development which meets and in many cases exceeds the rigor and expectations established for software in IEC 61508 at SIL 3,’ validating that the Eclipse Trustable Software Framework brings measurable, ongoing compliance into the heart of the software-defined vehicle. In an industry still trapped in periodic audits and paper trails, TSF demonstrates that safety and trust can be continuously verified, not merely asserted once per release cycle.”
“We remain focused on the real work of engineering safety, security, and reliability, not simply collecting certificates”, said Sherwood. “At its core, this is about trust: Trust that software will behave as intended, and trust that our systems and mitigations will perform when it matters most.”
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