GENEVA, Switzerland and SAARBRÜCKEN, Germany, Feb 10, 2025 – STMicroelectronics and HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH are advancing automotive functional safety with a complete solution that will accelerate the development of safety-critical systems to make software-defined vehicles safer and more affordable.
The solution supports the Rust programming language and combines HighTec’s Rust compiler, qualified to ISO 26262 ASIL D, with ST’s Stellar, the first 28nm microcontrollers certified to the same safety standard. Rust is gaining significant momentum in the automotive industry for its strong safety and reliability features.
“Software-defined principles are transforming vehicle design, and ownership experiences, replacing traditional hardwired electronic control units (ECUs) with programmable systems,” explained Davide Santo, automotive microcontroller business unit director, STMicroelectronics. “This is the future for vehicles with any type of powertrain, letting automakers easily differentiate their product ranges and dynamically update vehicle features. The collaboration with our longstanding partner HighTec, ensures that automotive manufacturers can leverage the power of Rust while meeting the highest safety standards in the industry.”
“Here at HighTec, our engineers created the industry’s first software compiler to support Rust, the modern safety-ready programming language, and achieve qualification to the highest level of the automotive functional-safety standard, ISO 26262 ASIL D,” said Mario Cupelli, CTO at HighTec EDV-Systeme. “On the other hand, ST’s Stellar automotive microcontrollers are the first 28nm components certified according to ISO 26262 ASIL D. This makes them a natural fit with our compiler, enabling customers to have a complete solution where safety is assured seamlessly across compiler, hardware, and software.”
Automakers meet evolving safety standards and faster development cycles. This partnership offers a robust solution for developing safe automotive software. By integrating the ASIL D qualified Rust compiler into the Stellar MCU family, companies can develop safety-critical systems in lesser time. This helps them meet safety requirements while reducing the time it takes to bring products to market.
Rust’s safety, performance, and reliability are making it a popular choice for crucial automotive systems. It is set to influence the future of the automotive sector. With HighTec’s Rust compiler support for Stellar products, ST provides its automotive clients with a comprehensive, feature-rich, and efficient toolchain. This approach speeds up development cycles while ensuring adherence to ISO 26262 standards.
ST and HighTec share a common goal of developing innovative solutions that adhere to the highest safety standards in the automotive sector. Their close collaboration allows developers to incorporate Rust alongside existing C/C++ code base into their safety-critical projects using Stellar. This integration speeds up the development of safety-critical systems, shortens time-to-market, and ensures compliance with automotive safety and security regulations.
Further technical information
Rust contains provisions to protect the safety of memory, process threads, and data types. This ensures enhanced resilience appropriate for critical automotive systems, while Rust’s runtime efficiency is comparable to C/C++ in execution time and memory usage. These characteristics significantly lower costs in software development and maintenance, shorten development cycles, and increase safety and security.
HighTec’s C/C++ and Rust automotive grade compiler allows Rust’s safety benefits to be integrated alongside legacy C/C++ code to build safe and secure automotive applications for the next-gen of software-defined vehicles.
ST’s Stellar automotive MCUs are built on Arm Cortex-R52+ cores and a robust safety-focused hardware architecture. They are the first 28nm MCUs to achieve an ISO 26262 ASIL D certification, attained through an accredited assessor early in 2024. Additionally, they adhere to ISO 21434 cybersecurity standards and comply with UN155 requirements, that ensure meeting the latest safety and security standards. The Stellar MCUs offer incomparable performance, scalability, and integration for next-gen automotive vehicles, electrification, and safety-critical systems.
The HighTec Rust compiler complements the already established HighTec C/C++ compiler suite. Both are qualified according to the safety level ISO 26262 ASIL D and enable automotive software developers to take advantage of the reliability and performance features of ST’s Stellar MCUs. The toolchain is built on the modern LLVM open-source technology and allows a hybrid development of Rust code along with C/C++, enabling the transition to modern software architectures. ST’s Stellar MCUs benefit from HighTec’s Rust compiler, allowing a smooth development of safety-critical applications.
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics, established in 1987 through the merger of Italy’s SGS Microelettronica and France’s Thomson Semiconducteurs, is a global semiconductor company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The company offers a range of products, including analog chips, discrete power semiconductors, microcontrollers, and sensors, serving industries such as automotive, industrial, personal electronics, communications equipment, and computers. In 2023, STMicroelectronics reported revenues of $17.3 billion, with over 50,000 employees worldwide and offices in 40 countries. The company is committed to sustainability, aiming for carbon neutrality in scope 1 and 2 emissions, and partially scope 3, by 2027.
About HighTec EDV Systeme GmbH
HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH, established in 1982, is a privately owned company headquartered in Saarbrücken, Germany. As the world’s largest commercial open-source compiler vendor, HighTec specializes in embedded software development tools, offering C/C++ and Rust development platforms. Their product portfolio includes the PXROS-HR real-time operating system, certified to ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL 3 standards, ensuring high levels of data protection and functional safety. HighTec serves industries such as automotive and industrial automation, providing development, training, and consulting services in performance optimization, functional safety, and migration from single-core to multi-core systems. The company has been recognized as a Preferred Design House by Infineon and a preferred compiler partner by STMicroelectronics. HighTec employs approximately 250 people.
Source: STMicroelectronics
