The automotive industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by electrification, connectivity, advanced driver assistance systems, and the gradual transition toward automated and autonomous driving. At the center of this transformation lies functional safety, particularly as codified in the ISO 26262 standard, which provides a structured framework for managing risks arising from systematic and random hardware faults in road vehicle electrical and electronic systems. While ISO 26262 was originally conceived for relatively deterministic systems, contemporary vehicles increasingly incorporate software-intensive architectures, machine learning components, and adaptive functionalities that challenge traditional safety assurance paradigms. This research article presents an extensive, theory-driven examination of ISO 26262 compliance in the context of modern automotive development, integrating insights from hardware safety design, safety lifecycle management, hazard analysis and risk assessment, ASIL decomposition, formal verification, FMEDA-driven verification, and emerging AI-centric methodologies. Drawing strictly from the provided literature, the article synthesizes established practices and recent advancements to identify persistent gaps between normative safety requirements and real-world system complexity. A descriptive methodological approach is employed to analyze how model-based certification, process-driven compliance, and machine learning–specific lifecycle extensions can enhance the robustness, traceability, and credibility of safety cases. The results highlight that while ISO 26262 remains a foundational pillar of automotive functional safety, its effective application increasingly depends on complementary methods such as formal verification, AI-aware safety processes, and holistic safety design frameworks. The discussion critically interprets these findings, addressing limitations related to explainability, tool qualification, and organizational readiness, and outlines future research directions necessary to sustain safety assurance in highly automated mobility ecosystems. The article concludes that integrated, model-driven, and AI-conscious safety assurance strategies are essential for maintaining public trust and regulatory confidence in next-generation vehicles.

ISO 26262, functional safety, automotive systems, AI in vehicles

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