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Functional Safety in Automotive Grade Linux: What AGL Does—and Doesn’t—Establish

AGL provides an automotive Linux platform, not an automatic safety conclusion. Learn how its scope differs from ISO 26262-6 and what a product-level assessment must cover.
Entry058 Date Time5 min MechanicCarCody Team

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Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) is an open-source automotive software platform, not by itself proof that a vehicle function is functionally safe or ISO 26262 compliant. AGL documentation covers functional safety among several vehicle-software areas, while its Requirements Specification defines the platform architecture and core software—not, in general, the safety requirements for a particular product. The vehicle program must assess its actual function, system boundary, configuration and development evidence against the applicable safety requirements.

What does functional safety mean in the context of AGL?

Functional safety concerns risks arising when electrical or electronic systems behave incorrectly. In an AGL-based vehicle, the relevant question is not simply whether the platform is “safe.” It is whether the specific vehicle function, as developed and integrated in its actual configuration, meets the safety objectives and requirements applicable to that function.

AGL describes itself as a collaborative open-source project bringing automakers, suppliers and technology companies together to build Linux-based automotive software platforms. Its documentation identifies infotainment, instrument clusters, head-up displays (HUD), telematics, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), functional safety and autonomous driving among the areas it addresses. The Unified Code Base (UCB) overview describes the UCB as a Linux distribution built for in-vehicle infotainment and connected-car experiences. These statements describe project and platform scope; they do not establish the safety status of a particular vehicle deployment.

What does the AGL platform specification cover?

The AGL Requirements Specification page states: “The scope of the AGL Requirements Spec is to define the architecture of the Automotive Grade Linux software platform.” It describes platform architecture and core software. Application requirements are generally outside its scope, with a home-screen case noted as an exception.

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AGL’s architecture overview describes layers including App/HMI, Application Framework, Services and Operating System. Those shared components can form part of a product, but product-specific applications, integrations and safety requirements belong to the vehicle program. The system integrator must determine which components are in the relevant system boundary and how they interact.

What does ISO 26262-6:2018 require at the software level?

ISO 26262-6:2018, Road vehicles — Functional safety — Part 6: Product development at the software level, is Edition 2, published in December 2018. ISO’s catalog says it was reviewed and confirmed in 2024 and remains current. The part applies to safety-related electrical and electronic (E/E) systems installed in series-production road vehicles, subject to the exclusions and qualifications described by ISO.

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ISO’s official abstract says: “This document specifies the requirements for product development at the software level for automotive applications, including the following:” The listed subject areas are:

  • Software safety requirements
  • Software architectural design
  • Software unit design and implementation
  • Software unit verification
  • Software integration and verification
  • Embedded software testing

Part 6 is a software-development part of the broader ISO 26262 series. It is not, on its own, a certificate for a platform, vehicle or organization. ISO describes the standard as a framework for integrating functional-safety activities into a company-specific development framework, with both technical and process requirements. The applicable activities depend on the product and its safety context.

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Why adopting AGL does not establish compliance

AGL platform documentation and ISO 26262-6 address different scopes. A platform architecture can provide a starting point for a product, but adoption alone does not show that a particular safety-related function has the requirements, design, verification, integration and test evidence it needs. That conclusion follows from the difference between the platform specification’s stated boundary and ISO Part 6’s software-development scope; it is not a conformity assessment of AGL or any AGL-based product.

The sources cited here do not establish a current, release-specific AGL safety manual, certificate or ASIL claim. That does not demonstrate that no such material or work exists. It means a safety conclusion should not be inferred from the general AGL descriptions or from the platform’s inclusion of functional safety as an area of work.

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How to assess an AGL-based safety-related function

Start with the vehicle function and the configuration being developed, not with a broad label such as “AGL compliant.” A useful assessment keeps these questions connected:

  1. Define the function and safety context. Identify the intended vehicle function, its operating context and the safety goals determined by the responsible program. The applicable safety requirements cannot be inferred from the platform name alone.
  2. Set the system boundary. Record which AGL release and components are used, which applications are product-specific, and what other software and hardware are integrated. Distinguish platform components from the complete system that implements the vehicle function.
  3. Describe the architecture and interactions. Document partitioning, inter-function communication, hardware and any virtualization arrangement. Assess the deployed arrangement rather than assuming that an architecture diagram demonstrates adequate isolation or qualification.
  4. Build and maintain the software evidence. Connect software safety requirements to architecture, unit design and implementation, verification, integration and testing. These are among the software-development areas identified by ISO 26262-6; the program determines the applicable work products and process for its system.
  5. Confirm the evidence matches the deployed configuration. Tie supplier and development evidence to the exact release, board, toolchain and components used. A claim about one configuration should not be extended to another without supporting evidence.

This framework helps reveal gaps between a reusable platform and a vehicle-specific safety case. It does not itself certify a product or prescribe a complete conformity assessment.

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What does AGL virtualization documentation show?

A 2018 AGL Virtualization Expert Group document depicts AGL infotainment, instrument-cluster, HUD and telematics functions alongside third-party automotive functions running over a virtualization platform and hardware. It discusses automotive regulations and ISO 26262 in that architectural context.

The document is useful as historical architecture context: it illustrates how multiple functions might be arranged on a platform. It does not establish that a particular current AGL release, hypervisor or deployment has a specific ASIL capability, safety certification or qualification. Those conclusions require evidence for the actual components and configuration.

What would support a product-level safety conclusion?

A defensible conclusion must be tied to a specific vehicle function and system configuration. The program needs to identify the applicable safety requirements and show how its development and integration evidence addresses them. At a minimum, reviewers should be able to establish:

  • Which function is being assessed and where its system boundary lies
  • Which AGL components, applications, hardware and integrated software are in that boundary
  • How the architecture handles partitioning and communication among relevant functions
  • How requirements are traced through design, implementation, verification, integration and testing
  • Whether supplier evidence applies to the exact release and deployed configuration
  • Which edition and parts of ISO 26262, and which qualifications or exclusions, apply to the product

Without those details, “AGL is functionally safe” is too broad to be a useful engineering or compliance statement. A more precise claim names the product function, configuration, scope of assessment and evidence supporting it.

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