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SiFive Upgrades Automotive Security for the RISC-V Ecosystem with New ISO/SAE 21434 Certification
Securing your vehicle used to mean remembering to lock your doors at night and hiding your belongings under the seat when parked in public lots. Now that today’s smart cars are running hundreds of millions of lines of code, vehicle security has become much more complicated. To protect private data and sensitive information in vehicles, it’s critical that automotive processors support the latest functional safety and cybersecurity standards.
SiFive has always been at the cutting-edge of vehicle safety, and we recently hit a new milestone by achieving ISO/SAE 21434 compliance. ISO/SAE 21434 is the first automotive-focused standard specifying a cybersecurity framework for next-generation software defined vehicles (SDVs). Our RISC-V automotive products already offer unparalleled design freedom and flexibility for the automotive market, and now our customers can design vehicle components with the confidence that our solutions meet the most demanding security requirements.
Let’s dive in further to explain why ISO/SAE 21434 is so important. The standard provides specific requirements for cybersecurity processes and establishes a common language for communicating and managing cybersecurity risk across the supply chain—protecting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end users from cybersecurity threats. ISO/SAE 21434 certification is seen as a prerequisite for OEMs in selecting their suppliers, as this certification allows OEMs to meet the requirements for UN R155, a regulatory framework designed to ensure that vehicles are secure.
Many of the processes required by the ISO/SAE 21434 are not new for SiFive. SiFive expanded on its existing processes to meet additional requirements specified by ISO/SAE 21434, including providing its customers with a security package that includes a security manual, and a cybersecurity capability and interface report. Now all of SiFive’s automotive products include this package to streamline the standardization process at every level of the supply chain.
With SiFive’s deep commitment to quality, security, and safety, our efforts don’t stop here. SiFive will be implementing the security practices and guidelines outlined by ISO/SAE 21434 as appropriate across the other products in our portfolio. This will make it easier for our customers across different verticals to take advantage of the latest security capabilities, even if certain segments do not have as strict security requirements as the automotive market.
Learn more about SiFive Automotive™ solutions.
Priyanka Thachakuzhiyil Viswanathan
Priyanka Thachakuzhiyil Viswanathan is Senior Director of Quality, Functional Safety and Cybersecurity at SiFive, where she builds the scalable frameworks that allow the company to bring RISC-V technology into safety-critical and security-sensitive markets. She architected SiFive's unified management system from the ground up, securing ISO 9001 and ISO/SAE 21434 certification for the company's management system and ISO 26262 certification for its automotive products, making SiFive the first IP company to achieve ISO/SAE 21434 product certification.
Prior to joining SiFive, Priyanka spent over five years at Arm in functional safety leadership roles, and earlier held quality engineering positions at Delphi Diesel Systems and Cubic. With nearly two decades of experience across the semiconductor and automotive industries, she is a contributor to the ISO 26262 Edition 3 task groups and a frequent speaker on integrating functional safety and cybersecurity practices. Her leadership has been recognized with the 2024 Women Leaders in Electronics Award for Safety and Compliance, and she served as a judge for the 2025 Women in Electronics Awards.
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