OpenSynergy joins GenIVI Infotainment Alliance

Infotainment Alliance first interest in virtualization

Berlin, 11. June 2009 OpenSynergy joins the Infotainment Alliance GenIVI as an Associate Member. GenIVI was founded by leading car manufacturers and suppliers. In particular the company is going to introduce its long-term experience in areas like Infotainment, Connectivity and AUTOSAR to the Alliance. OpenSynergy will play a significant role in faster adapting development results from open source and standard software to the requirements of the automotive industry. Based on an intelligent coupling of key technologies, like virtualization and AUTOSAR, it is possible to seamlessly integrate Linux-based open source software in an automotive environment. Members of GenIVI can benefit from a faster vehicle integration and market introduction of their GenIVI-based infotainment application.

Scalibility of infotainment platforms using virtualization
One of the major requirements of complex infotainment systems is the scalability of infotainment functions across different product models. During the development phase especially the reusability of software components plays an important role at tier 1 suppliers to meet set goals for time-to-market and cost targets in system development. To achieve these goals the supplier needs to use a platform which can scale across the relevant hardware spectrum. “Virtualization enables the supplier reusing existing software components across the use of different guest operating systems. This allows a migration path from the today´s stage of development to the point of using the GenIVI-standard-system.”, explains Rolf Morich, COO of OpenSynergy. By way of example same software components can run and be reused on a Single-core ARM9 processor as well as on a x86 Intel Atom or a Multicore-ARM11 system.

Integration of open source Linux applications into the car
One of the major GenIVI challenges OpenSynergy identifies in achieving automotive specific requirements related to startup of network interfaces and specific applications as for example Diagnostics. Automotive related applications, for example a rear-view camera, have to be available in a very short time on the display of the car. The COQOS concept and its integrated graphic and video component allow the faster availability of a typical automotive function like the rear-view camera. In particular the µOS takes over the responsibility to run all automotive functions and to let the Linux-system execute specific infotainment applications of the customer. “The concept of COQOS and its µOS enables the integration of existing open source entertainment applications into the car and concurrently even meets the hard automotive requirements on the vehicle interfaces.”, explains Dr. Stefaan Sonck Thiebaut, CTO of OpenSynergy.

AUTOSAR and infotainment on a single hardware
For GenIVI a short-term challenge will be to integrate infotainment applications and AUTOSAR functions on one single hardware, as for example the head unit. This allows the AUTOSAR world to access next generation powerful processors. Currently on the infotainment side COQOS supports Linux. In combination with the use of the micro-kernel technology this enables the integration of a GenIVI-based infotainment application into a standardized AUTOSAR environment.
Frank-Peter Böhm, CEO of OpenSynergy, explains: „Virtualization is the state-of-the-art technology to partition different automotive functions (AUTOSAR, Non-AUTOSAR) from different car domains on one single hardware, for example the head unit. This concurrently allows car manufacturers and suppliers to quickly and safely integrate latest infotainment applications into the car. Efforts in system development and hardware costs can be reduced significantly. “

About “The GENIVI Alliance”
The „GenIVI Alliance“ is a consortium founded by leading car manufacturers and suppliers who want to speed up the development and the overall use of a standardized automotive infotainment-platform (In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI)) in the car. The goals of that consortium are reducing development cycles, faster time-to-market and reducing development costs for IVI-based devices and software. The founders of the GenIVI Alliance are BMW Group, Delphi, General Motors Corp., Intel, Magneti Marelli, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Visteon Corp. and Wind River.

The company having its headquarters in Berlin develops and markets the universal car operating system COQOS. This operating car system allows a safe execution of infotainment applications and AUTOSAR functions on a single hardware through virtualization. Based on a modular concept COQOS can be used in head units, instrument cluster and body control modules. Additionally OpenSynergy offers consulting and software engineering in the areas like infotainment, connectivity and AUTOSAR.

OpenSynergy GmbH
Mr. René Drescher
Rotherstraße 9
10245 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)30-2018 1835-41
E-Mail: rene.drescher@opensynergy.com
www.opensynergy.com

This release was published on openPR.