It’s official: Ferrocene is ISO 26262 and IEC 61508 qualified!

You can even find the certificate in TÜV SÜDs certificate database.

This means we achieved qualification for the open source Ferrocene toolchain. Ferrocene 23.06.0, based on Rust 1.68, is now fully usable in safety critical environments.

Early last month, Ferrocene’s source code was open sourced on GitHub.

After going through a couple rounds of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, TÜV SÜD officially sent over the certification on Monday October 29. This is the first qualification of a Rust compiler.

With these qualifications, Rust can now be used to develop software for electronic systems in series production road vehicles. We’ve qualified Ferrocene for use in systems up to ASIL D – the highest classification of initial hazard as defined by this standard. This standard provides automakers with guidelines that make the software being used to develop, produce, operate and service the automotive sectors safe to use.

Beyond the automotive, Ferrocene can also be used in electronic programmable systems in the industrial sector. Here the focus is on developing products or applications that carry out safety functions. Like the automotive certification, we’ve also gone for the highest level of risk reduction and qualified it at SIL4.

“Ferrocene is a major achievement both for Rust and safety in automotive,” says Florian. “It shows that Rust software can be used in all critical environments. The process was challenging but matched what we’ve come to expect from Rust: It enables building correct software at a much lower cost.”

With this step, we can start rolling out the sales process on Ferrocene. Our initial availability is limited to a minimum order of 10 license seats for 12 months, starting at €2.400,00 (€240 each) for the quality managed licenses.

We’ve also got an overview of the reasons for Ferrocene on our YouTube channel:

And if your organization is interested in purchasing licenses, then reach out to us.

We’ll be rolling out an individual purchase option at €25 per seat per month or €240 per seat per year in early 2024.