The predominant and continually increasing number of innovative vehicle functions related to user-friendliness, safety, security and the protection of the environment by economic efficiency can only be achieved by the introduction of complex and highly-networked software systems.

Market demands require permanent innovations with increasing complexity within shorter time frames. Together with rising demand for reliability, the shorter development periods make it essential to improve the software development processes and methods for product creation so as to ensure the development and manufacturing of products in time and in the quality which satisfies customer’s expectations.

In 2005 the Automotive Special Interest Group published the automotive domain specific “Automotive SPICE Process Assessment Model” and “Automotive SPICE Process Reference Model” derived from the ISO/IEC 15504 International Standard for Process Assessments.

Between 2012 and 2015 the “Automotive SPICE Process Assessment Model” Version 2.5 and “Automotive SPICE Process Reference Model” Version 4.5 was significantly reworked by the VDA QMC working group 13. This was based on a mandate of the VDA Quality management board to take appropriate steps to improve the quality and comparability of assessment results.

In July 2015 the Automotive SPICE process reference and assessment model version 3.0 was released in a combined document that is improved regarding the structure of the processes with added clarifications, additional concepts and by removing inconsistencies. A version 3.1 with minor updates will be available with the publication of this document.

The “Automotive SPICE Process Assessment Model” is increasingly used within the global automotive industry for the objective evaluation of processes and the subsequent improvement of processes at project and organization level. The objective in drawing up this document was to support the interpretation and application of the model for the automotive industry and to provide guidance and recommendations to increase the comparability of assessments results.