The limitations on performance, insufficient specifications or reasonably foreseeable misuse lead to the issues related to the safety of the intended functionality (SOTIF) emerging one after another, seriously hindering the rapid development of intelligent vehicles. This paper focuses on the key technologies to ensure the SOTIF, and systematically summarizes the related state of art of research from system development, functional improvement, and operation three phases. Finally, the research prospect is foreseen from the perspectives of basic theory, risk prevention and update mechanism. The review can provide an important reference for the research on the safety of the intended functionality for intelligent vehicles.