Liability for software in safety-critical mechatronic systems: An industrial questionnaire

There is very little research on how industry is dealing with the risk of legal liability when constructing safety-critical mechatronic systems that are also software intensive. In this paper we propose a case study approach with the goal to understand how liability concerns in this setting impact software development in industry. The approach takes into account that software development is embedded into a complex socio-technical context involving stakeholders from technical, managerial and legal backgrounds. We present first results of our case study from a questionnaire involving six companies that develop software-intensive, safety-critical systems in the vehicular and avionics domains. The results of the questionnaire shed light on current industrial practices and concerns. The results indicate that liability seems indeed a concern and that a more in-depth analysis of this topic would be desirable to better understand the strategies that are used by industry to address liability risks.