VDA Automotive SPICE Guidelines. Process assessment using the Automotive SPICE PAM 4.1., 3rd edition, July 2026

Annotation of standard text:

The intent of this publication is to revise the Blue-Gold Book Automotive SPICE® Guidelines version 2 to improve the quality and reproducibility of assessment results.
The objective is to give necessary clarifications and recommendations for the application of Automotive SPICE® for the purpose of performing assessments and monitoring of resulting process improvements in the development of software-based systems.
To fulfill this mandate, the following activities were performed:

Improving the Automotive SPICE® Process Assessment and reference Model regarding structure, inconsistencies, clarifications and additional concepts. This was done with the publication of the 4.1 version of Automotive SPICE® PrM/PAM [AS41].
Improvement and update of the guidelines on the interpretation of Automotive SPICE® and on Assessment Performance. This is provided by the current publication.
Setting requirements for the qualification of assessors and updating the existing procedures, training materials and examinations. This will be done in collaboration with the international assessor certification scheme (INTACS® ) to accompany the release and roll-out of this publication [intacs].

The current publication will replace the existing Blue-Gold Print Automotive SPICE® Guidelines version 2 and can be applied with its official publication in the VDA QMC online shop.
The present publication addresses the mandate by providing two parts:
Part 1: Interpretation and rating guidelines
This part provides rules for the rating performed in an assessment.
Part 2: Guidelines for performing the assessment
By defining the requirements for the assessment process, it is intended to standardize the procedure, so that the companies involved in an assessment can follow a defined assessment approach. This present volume specifies the requirements related to the assessment process, as well as the qualification of assessors carrying out assessments based on Automotive SPICE®. All rules for rating in assessments reflect best practices from assessors having extensive experience in assessments based on Automotive SPICE® in various applications.
Besides the knowledge of the participating members and third-party members involved, the present publication leverages other sources giving valuable input, which has been proven in many years of assessment practice and assessor trainings.