The Engineering Meetings Board has approved this paper for publication. It has successfully completed SAE's peer review process under the supervision of the session organizer. This process requires a minimum of three (3) reviews by industry experts. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SAE. ISSN 0148-7191 Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SAE. The author is solely responsible for the content of the paper. SAE

Legislative bodies are directing that automotive products comply with stringent safety levels. The liability for the safety of passengers in an automobile has traditionally been quite complex. Other transport sectors are externally regulated, and liability lies with the manufacturer or the transport service provider. The automotive industry is self-regulated and the individual driver carries a significant liability. This paper discusses the suitability for industry of formal methods of specification and verification. It provides a classification which looks at categories such as commercialization; capacity to solve industry-scale problems; cost effectiveness, etc. The paper looks at the relevance of the classification in terms of the challenges and constraints of the automotive domain and discusses how it might facilitate the engineer to make design decisions which improve safety in a cost effective manner.