The Automotive SPICE process assessment and process reference model has initially been developed under the Automotive SPICE initiative by consensus of the car manufacturers within the Automotive Special Interest Group (SIG), a joint special interest group of Automotive OEM, the Procurement Forum and the SPICE User Group.

It has been revised by the Working Group 13 of the Quality Management Center (QMC) in the German Association of the Automotive Industry with the representation of members of the Automotive Special Interest Group, and with the agreement of the SPICE User Group. The Automotive SPICE® Process Assessment Model will be used to perform conformant assessments of the software process capability in the development of automotive systems in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC 33002.

The results of assessment are used for the identification of process improvements, for identifying risks in quality of a specific product release as well as a criterion for supplier selection. The authors believe that, with the publication of the Automotive SPICE® Process Assessment Model, there is now more specific guidance available for the basis of process design and assessment in the Automotive Industry.