Open-source Connected Car Software Gains Support

Greg Hyde

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17th August 2018

Moves to develop an open-source software platform for connected cars have been boosted with the signing of five automotive software heavy hitters and a major university’s engineering department.

HERE Technologies, Kinetica, Neusoft, NXM Technologies, Spireon, Veniam and New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering have all signed up to the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) project, which already boasts Mazda, Suzuki, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and several other major carmakers among its members.

The project aims “to build a Linux-based, open software platform for automotive applications that can serve as the de facto industry standard”. On its website, the project claims that this will allow “automakers and suppliers to share and reuse the same code base, which will reduce development costs, decrease time-to-market for new products and enable rapid innovation”.

AGL also purports to be the only organization developing automotive software that collectively incorporates infotainment, instrument clusters, telematics, heads-up displays (HUDs), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), functional safety and autonomous driving.

Commenting on his company’s entry into the project, Rick Gruenhagen, chief technology officer of GPS and fleet management software maker Spireon, said: “Spireon has nearly four million vehicles connected to our NSpire platform, and data from more than 326 billion driving miles … a standardized software stack will accelerate autonomous and other connected vehicle benefits by helping solution providers like Spireon gain secure access to in-vehicle functions and data”.