Solid Sands and HighTec Announce Partnership to Qualify Rust Libraries for Automotive

Saarbruecken/Germany and Amsterdam/The Netherlands, 10 March 2025 – HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH and Solid Sands B.V. are pleased to announce their strategic collaboration aimed to provide a safety qualification of the Rust core library in automotive applications. This partnership brings together HighTec’s proven automotive-grade compiler technology and tools for Rust and C/C++ with Solid Sands’ expertise in library qualification. Combining forces, both companies are addressing the growing demand for efficient, secure, and cost-effective automotive application development using Rust. This modern language enhances memory safety and ensures interoperability with C/C++ legacy code. It also improves productivity, making it an ideal choice for future-proof, safety-critical embedded systems. HighTec offers a unified, single-vendor Rust and C/C++ toolchain solution with automotive grade long-term availability. As a pioneer in delivering ISO 26262 ASIL D qualified multi-architecture Rust and C/C++ compiler solutions, HighTec ensures seamless integration and safety compliance. Solid Sands, the world-leading provider of verification and qualification technology for C and C++ compilers and libraries, contributes its proven methodologies and test suites for rigorous software verification. The Rust core library's safety qualification builds on both existing and new tests, adding requirements traceability and complete code coverage. Traceability is essential for safety-critical Rust applications. This will be integrated into Solid Sands’ SuperGuard Library Safety Qualification Suite and developed in close collaboration with automotive customers. This approach ensures compliance with real-world automotive requirements while evolving with industry needs. The usage of Rust for automotive software development is a strategic move to address the industry's growing challenges in terms of functional safety, security, and system complexity. Rust’s compile-time memory safety, efficiency, enhanced security features, and productivity benefits, along with its ability to be incrementally integrated with legacy C/C++ code, make it ideally suited for the strict requirements of automotive applications. The partnership between HighTec and Solid Sands, which brings a tailor-made comprehensive qualification framework to the automotive industry, will continue to promote the adoption of Rust.     "We've seen a significant increase in demand for Rust, with many customers actively inquiring about our support for Rust toolchain qualification, and we're thrilled to build on our long history of collaborations with HighTec to now work together on Rust toolchain qualification", said Sjoerd van der Zwaan, Chief Product Officer at Solid Sands. "We foresee Rust coexisting with C and C++, reinforcing the need for a fully integrated and qualified toolchain to support the industry's evolving needs." "This collaboration with Solid Sands underlines our commitment to innovative open source, and to provide automotive grade solutions to the Rust ecosystem", said Mario Cupelli, CTO of HighTec EDV Systeme GmbH. "With this qualification framework, we allow automotive customers to safely combine legacy C/C++ code with Rust and its core library to target the Shift-left and SDV trends, which require cost-efficient, innovative, safe, and secure automotive systems." For more information on HighTec’s compiler tools for Rust and the Rust ecosystem, please visit https://hightec-rt.com/rust. For more information on Solid Sands’ Library Safety Qualification Suite, please visit https://solidsands.nl/products/superguard. About Solid Sands B.V. Solid Sands is the world-leading provider of verification and qualification technology for C and C++ compilers and libraries. Solid Sands’ products support companies to achieve both the highest quality objectives and the most up-to-date functional safety standard requirements. By creating the best possible test suites for C and C++ compilers, libraries, and analysis tools, Solid Sands is at the forefront of software testing and qualification. The company’s name combines sand – the world’s most abundant source of silicon – with the solidity and security expected of sector-leading testing and validation technologies. More information on the company’s products and services is available at www.solidsands.nl.

About HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH, Saarbruecken/Germany, is the world’s largest commercial provider of compilers using innovative open-source technologies and offers ISO 26262 ASIL D certified tools for embedded software development, the real-time operating system PXROS-HR, and a wide range of design-in services. HighTec’s ASIL D qualified C/C++ compiler for leading multicore microcontrollers in the automotive and industrial sectors such as Arm®, TriCore™/AURIX™/TRAVEO™ families, Power Architecture (PowerPC), GTM and Renesas architectures are continuously adapted and optimized to new architectures in close cooperation with the silicon partners. For Rust developers, the company offers the HighTec Rust Development Platform for Infineon’s AURIX TC3x and TC4x microcontrollers. In addition to the multi-architecture compiler, HighTec offers PXROS-HR, a safety-certified multicore RTOS for applications with safety and multicore requirements. PXROS-HR guarantees robustness, safety, high performance, and data security in real-time environments. PXROS-HR is certified according to ISO 26262 ASIL D / IEC 61508 SIL 3 and is complemented for ASIL D development by a Tool Qualification Kit as a basis for the certification of customer applications. Complementing this portfolio, HighTec offers development, training and consulting services. Founded in 1982, HighTec is a privately held global company with offices in Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Hungary and China. For more information about HighTec EDV-Systeme GmbH, visit www.hightec-rt.com.