Updates to ASPICE, Functional Safety, SOTIF & Product Cybersecurity

by Chad Kymal,Nikhil Unnikrishnan,Brian Kozumplik,Juan Pimentel published on August 01, 2025

The key automotive e-mobility standards are all undergoing major updates. The Functional Safety standard for Road Vehicles, ISO 26262, is being significantly revised for its third edition, expected to be released in 2026.

Meanwhile, ISO 21448 (Safety of the Intended Function – SOTIF) and ISO/SAE 21434 (Cybersecurity Engineering for Road Vehicles) are also being updated, with their second editions currently in development.

Automotive SPICE PAM 4.0 was released in November 2023, followed by significant training rollouts in 2024, with widespread market adoption in progress throughout 2025.

Learn from Omnex Subject Matter Experts—contributors to the ISO 26262, ISO 21448, and ISO/SAE 21434 standards committees, organizers of the inaugural North American SPICE Conference, and an intacs™-certified training provider—for a must-watch webinar recording. Gain essential insights into the evolving landscape of e-mobility standards and learn how to proactively prepare your organization for what's coming.

Hear directly from Chad Kymal, Brian Kozumplik and Juan Pimentel — active members of the various e-mobility standards committees — so you’re not caught off guard by the changes that will impact your teams, processes, and compliance strategies.

Speaker

Nikhil Unnikrishnan

Nikhil Unnikrishnan is a Consultant with a broad range of experience, involved in the design & development of hardware, software and mechanical systems and components. He has worked with organizations to analyze process deficiencies and drive improvement by implementing best-in-class practices conforming to internationally recognized standards such as Automotive SPICE®, ISO 26262 Functional Safety, ISO 9001 & IATF 16949 Quality Management Systems. Nikhil has been involved with performing detailed documentation reviews, Automotive SPICE®, Functional Safety & QMS assessments, process documentation development and conducting roll-outs for numerous leading automotive organizations including multiple Software and Hardware systems. Mr. Unnikrishnan is a Certified Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma Methodologies (CLSSGB) and also Certified Quality Process Analyst (CQPA). He is an Exemplar Global certified Lead Auditor for IATF 16949:2016 and ISO 9001:2015.

Brian Kozumplik

Brian Kozumplik is a an experienced Functional Safety Senior Systems Manager with concentrated skills in Parts 2 and 3 of the ISO 26262 Funcational Safety standard, 2nd edition. He has written and conducted training for Functional Safety and Fault Tree Analysis. Brian has detailed experience working for a Tier 1 automotive supplier providing lateral motor control hardware and software. Brian holds the AFSP (Automotive Functional Safety Professional) certificate thru TuV SAAR, and had managed a team of functional safety engineers for 5 years. Brian is also a member of SAE’s ISO 26262 standard working group committee reviewing latest developments in Functional Safety, including SOTIF (Safety of The Intended Function), and COSSA (Controls Oriented System Safety Analysis). Brian has a BSME from Michigan State University (1980) and has completed numerous Masters Courses in Statistics from Oakland University (1991/92). Brian has a passion to ensure products are safe, reliable, and are developed on time with quality for our customers.

Chad Kymal

Chad Kymal is the CTO and Founder of Omnex Inc. He is the author of seven books and more than 100 papers including several on integrated management systems. Chad is currently on the writing committees for several standards including TC 22/ SC 32/WG 8 for ISO 26262 (Functional Safety), ISO/TC 176 for ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management), ISO/TC 207 for ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management), and PC283 for ISO 45001 (Health and Safety Management Systems). He founded and was the CEO of an Automotive registrar for over 10 years and is familiar with conducting audits, being witnessed for audits, and also evaluating auditors and assessors. He authored and teaches a course for 3rd Party Auditors for Automotive Registrars on behalf of International Automotive Certification Bodies Association (IACBA). This course explains how 3rd Party Auditors audit IATF 16949 in an environment that includes ASPICE, Functional Safety and Product Cybersecurity. He is currently rolling out the course to global 3rd Party Auditors for IATF 16949. Chad has spent over 20 years in system, hardware and software development in various capacities. He assesses and works in automotive system, hardware and software for Agile, ASPICE, and Functional Safety ISO 26262. Chad is also currently an intacsTM certified Principal Assessor for Automotive SPICE.