An independent firm built by engineers for engineers.
The STS story doesn’t start with a company — it starts with an engineer. In 2001, at Siemens-VDO in Romania, Adrian Valea was among the first to bring Model-Based Development into mainstream automotive software. Two decades on — after seven years building formal-verification tools at BTC Embedded Systems and a decade running his own automotive engineering firm across European OEM and Tier-1 programs — he founded STS in April 2020 with one charter: deliver functional safety and embedded engineering that meets the standard and ships the program.
Adrian Valea · Founder & GF
The founder
Adrian Valea is the founder and managing director of STS. He is recognized as a pioneer and champion of Model-Based Software Development in mainstream automotive industry. He began his career in 2001 at Siemens-VDO Romania (now Continental Automotive), where he was instrumental in introducing the concept of Model-Based Development across the organisation.
Later, at BTC Embedded Systems, Adrian helped develop BTC EmbeddedSpecifier, EmbeddedTester, and EmbeddedValidator — tools that introduced advanced formal methods, automatic back-to-back testing and model/code coverage to engineering organisations worldwide. BTC tools are still widely used for software verification and validation today.
Adrian is certified in ASPICE (intacs Provisional Assessor, VDA), Functional Safety (FSE, TÜV Rheinland) and Automotive Cybersecurity (TÜV NORD). He has implemented ASPICE and Functional Safety at system and software level across four European OEMs and one Indian OEM.
“Anyone with the right methods, the right tools, and an eagerness to learn can build anything.”
Between BTC and STS, Adrian built and ran his own automotive engineering company for nearly a decade — leading delivery teams of up to 50 engineers across European OEM and Tier-1 programs, and developing RE-VISION, a requirements-engineering tool that anchors the V-model pipeline from requirements through Simulink, TargetLink, BTC formal verification and dSPACE HIL. STS is the distillation of that arc: hands-on engineering, product vision and vendor-insider perspective in a single delivery team.
Why STS exists
Adrian founded STS in April 2020 with one goal: take the Model-Based Development & Functional Safety mindset out of the slide decks and make it the daily working method of a delivery team. Most consultancies stop at the training slide; STS engineers deliver the actual safety case, the actual ASPICE evidence, the actual MISRA-clean C/C++ code.
We’re built deliberately small. Senior engineers at every seat. No bench of fresh hires learning on your project. If we don’t have capacity, we’ll tell you — and refer you to someone who does.
What we’ve actually delivered
Some of the safety-critical engagements in our active portfolio (under NDA, brand-line only):
- Hanon Systems (Daimler MMA PTC): Anchor client since November 2022. Functional Safety + ASPICE across multiple PTC variants (48V, 800V, HEL, COMP, VANEA). Daimler MBAG MMA platform pull-through.
- Mercedes-Benz MBAG FAAST: Active. Thermal-control / climate workstream under the FAAST programme; ASPICE SYS.2 / SYS.5. Joint delivery with our sister entity e-novation GmbH.
- Hella (Forvia) PMT FSE: STS first customer (July 2021). Functional Safety Concept + Safety Requirements Patterns.
- FEV Aachen MEL.S230 BMS: Battery Management System V-model delivery — stakeholder analysis through SWE.6 inspection reviews.
- Woory Industrial (Daimler MMA PTC HEL): 2023-2025. MCU Safety Mechanisms, FuSa Support, UDS Services. SSW.P3-P5 series.
- Bosch ENB7 / ENB9: Active 2026 rampup. SW Unit Test / Qualification Test capacity.
- Audi PPE Intelligent Battery Sensor: Semi-Formal Verification at SW unit and System Architecture levels; SFV Development Process definition.
- Marquardt (NEVS BMC, BDU, ESCL): Battery management controller and steering work under partnership-embedded GTM since 2016 (ADVA era predecessor).
How we’re organised
STS GmbH holds the contract and the safety responsibility. Delivery happens across four locations:
- Germany — Odelzhausen (Bayern). Adrian Valea, GF. Customer-facing engagement, FuSa lead role, ASPICE assessor.
- India — Bangalore (SafetyTrust Software Technology India Pvt Ltd, founded 2020). Managing Director: Ravi Singh. SW development, model migration, SWQT, HILS, MISRA-clean C/C++.
- China — Shanghai (盾睿软件科技上海有限公司, founded 2019). Active operational status with the Shanghai municipal registry. Local-market support and BTC partnership channel.
- Romania — Brașov (via sister entity e-novation GmbH, three-way founder partnership). Senior delivery capacity for thermal, MBSE, formal verification, ASAM/MDF measurement analysis.
Customers contract with STS GmbH for safety scope; technical execution flows through whichever team has the right skill mix. This gives them one safety-responsible counterparty (Adrian) and the deepest possible bench across time zones, without the typical Tier-1-supplier-of-supplier games.
How we engage
Most engagements start the same way:
- Walkthrough call (30 min). You describe the project, the standard you’re held to, the next deadline. We listen and ask precise questions.
- One-page diagnostic. Gap matrix mapped to the relevant clauses. Sent within 48 hours. Yours to keep, whether or not you hire us.
- Scoped engagement. If we’re a fit, you get a scope, a team, and a timeline. Typical engagement: 4-12 weeks audit-prep or 3-9 month embedded retainer.
- Delivery in your stack. DOORS, Polarion, Jama, Vector CANoe, dSPACE, BTC EmbeddedPlatform, Matlab / Simulink, Redmine — we work where you work.
Voice-of-evidence
Every claim we put in writing traces to one of four things: a standard reference (e.g. per ISO 26262-6 §9), a specific past observation (in our last 12 audits at Tier-1 suppliers), a published source, or a quantitative metric. If we can’t cite it, we don’t write it.
Legal entity
SafetyTrust Software Technology GmbH
Reiseraecker 13a, 85235 Odelzhausen, Bayern, Germany
HRB 257888 (AG München) · USt-IdNr DE332037328
Founded: 21 April 2020 · Founder & Geschäftsführer: Adrian Valea (100 % Anteile)