Trucking Coders, Coding Truckers - Part 19: The Certification Process
To the readers: Do not hesitate to indicate spelling and/or style mistakes. You could even make suggestions for where the story should go.
The Certification Process
At the beginning of April 2028, the NeMo Trucking Software company made the following requests to NAAVCA:
- Qualification for their software development system
- Certification for the lower software NeMo-OS
- Certification for the self-driving software NeMo-Truxoft
They knew that they were not the first company to started the certification process, but they also knew that no other company had been issued a certificate for their self-driving trucking software.
The process lasted for several months and cost them several thousands of dollars.
It involved sending multiples documents and communicating with various inspectors from NAAVCA, Canadians and Americans.
Fortunately for them, the main NAAVCA inspector was located in Vancouver.
They did not have a lot of problems with the qualification of the software development process, as most of it had been qualified by other certification authority for airplanes and trains.
For the certification of NeMo-OS, they had to prove that the various authorized calls did exactly as specified and that other calls were forbidden. They also had to prove that there was no dead code in the software, meaning that all the instructions in NeMo-OS were parts of the execution of some authorized calls.
For NeMo-Tuxoft, the process was similar, except that it was relaxed on the parts of the system that were not directly related to driving the truck, such as fancy display or equipment surveillance.
The main inspector came to visit them several times and went with Nestor on a trip to Seattle and back.
Finally, in December 2028, they were given a certificate at level 4 for several driving modes, including heavy rain during the day.
They were not the first to get a NAAVCA certificate for self-driving trucks, as several were delivered by NAAVCA in November.
But all the other certificates were for level 3, theirs was the first one at level 4.
Copyright © Vincent Celier, License CC BY-SA 
To be continued
Part 1: An Eventless Trip
Part 2: Nestor, Son of Immigrants
Part 3: Moana, a "demi-tinto" from Punaauia
Part 4: Nestor and Moana Meet Online
Part 5: First Dates
Part 6: First Trip Together
Part 7: Coder Becomes Trucker
Part 8: Trucker Becomes Coder
Part 9: Small Truck and Solar Panels
Part 10: The NeMo Trucking Software Company
Part 11: Getting Help
Part 12: A Different Kind of Company
Part 13: Nestor and Moana Get Married
Part 14: Newlyweds in Tahiti
Part 15: From Level 3 to Level 4
Part 16: Authorized Testing of the Software
Part 17: First Contracts
Part 18: Ready for Certification
I like your story @vcelier. Trucking coders on a trip to Seattle. I'm originally from Portland, Oregon, which is only about a 6 hour drive away from Seattle.
I know Portland. It is near Vancouver ;-)
Yes. Vancouver is about a 3 hour drive away.
I'm wondering why you chose these cities for your stories.
You must have close ties to these cities.
I'm interested in your story because my dad used to work for a trucking company called Freightliner. It is located in downtown Portland. He worked there for at least 30 years and then retired. Now my brother works at the same company and makes electric trucks.
I am from France, but I immigrated to British Columbia 26 years ago.
I assumed that you knew I am living near Vancouver, BC.
I was making a joke that Portland, OR is near Vancouver, WA.
It just happens that in two days the story will talk about Freightliner Trucks.
Oh! I'm excited to read your story and see how this progresses! I knew you speak French, but I didn't know you were living in BC. I'm from the States and living in South Korea.