Genivi's Open Source Car Infotainment Efforts Ramping Up
by Sam Dean - Mar. 18, 2009Comments (1)- Related Blog Posts
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The recently announced non-profit Genivi Alliance is shaping up to be an interesting effort to build an open source platform for infotainment in cars. Some have speculated that it may represent a threat to efforts from Microsoft and others to provide automotive infotainment platforms and applications, but in this video Grahem Smethurst, chairman of the alliance, makes clear that what Genivi is working on is intended for others to build on, and claims it is not intended as a threat to proprietary players. Genivi has had the cooperation of Intel and BMW since 2006, and could create a promising new platform if it plays its cards right.
"Genivi is focused on the non-differentiating elements of the infotainment stack," says Smethurst, here. He emphasizes that differentation in the eventual applications built on the Genivi stack will come from OEMs, especially auto manufacturers.
Dana Blankenhorn recently wrote an interesting post about how Genivi is unlikely to tread on Microsoft's plans for auto infotainment applications. He notes that voice recognition, GPS technology and many other developments are converging rapidly, and it sounds like we'll soon see many new opportunities for driver distraction arrive.
At the same time, some of the applications headed for cars sound very promising, and could impact much more than just car companies and GPS providers. I agree with Blankenhorn when he says "once your software is at the heart of that application, then it’s bound to be adapted by governments and traffic agencies."
There will undoubtedly be a race for proprietary control of auto infotainment platforms and applications, and some people believe we're already seeing territorial behavior in this space in the form of Microsoft's suit against GPS player TomTom. The best platform provider for these new applications would be an open source player. Let's hope Genivi's reference platform gains backers and momentum, ushering in a flexible open source stack.
