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By Dan Noal, Senior Director for Products and Strategy
Connected Vehicle Solutions at Wind River

Auto OEMs: If you want to get to market sooner with features that wow consumers, it’s time to get serious about open source software.

For General Electric, the “aha!” moment came in 2009. The 124-year-old manufacturing giant saw that its differentiation and competitiveness—its future—depended on software. “We needed to be in the software business,” said GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt. GE made a massive investment in software competency and committed to becoming a top 10 software company by 2020. “It was this or bust,” said Immelt.

Since then, many automakers have had similar aha moments—and some realized with horror that they were already late to the game. Today their competitors are no longer simply other auto OEMs, they are software and new-media giants such as Apple®, Google®, Uber, and Microsoft®. The question is no longer whether to become a software company. The question is how to accelerate the use of software in creating innovative new features that consumers want, that the supply chain can deliver, and that meet stringent safety and security requirements, at the lowest possible cost.

Open source software provides a compelling answer—but in a way that many auto executives have not fully considered. The adoption of open source software products and platforms does far more than provide cost-effective access to reusable software components that have been created and refined by software gurus. Open source accelerates the entire development cycle. In the process, it accelerates the creation of highly differentiated products and features that fuel new competitive advantages, and it quantifiably reduces time-to-market.

Open Source in the Auto Industry

The open source concept was introduced more than 25 years ago, and adoption of open source software has been accelerating ever since. Open source simply means the source code is freely available to developers (free as in “freedom,” not as in “free beer”). Under most open source licenses developers have the right to modify and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Thus development is a collaborative, community effort, open to everyone. In the proprietary model, by contrast, the software is typically copyrighted or patented by a single person or entity, which imposes limits and restrictions on who can use it and how it is used.

The Linux operating system is the premier example of the power of open source. Originally developed in 1991 to circumvent the expense and limitations of commercial operating systems, Linux now has the largest installed base of any operating system in the world. Many different distributions or “flavors” of Linux have been created over the years to meet specific needs, including Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a Linux Foundation project dedicated to creating open source software solutions for automotive applications, particularly for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems, instrument clusters, and telematics systems.

Another well-known and fast-growing open source project serving the auto industry is GENIVI®. This non-profit industry alliance is developing an open standard for creating in-car entertainment software that aligns consumer needs with business objectives. GENIVI standards help automakers deliver applications with the simplicity of familiar smartphone applications, that also comply with myriad branding, ownership of data, and business models. The alliance has more than 160 members, including Tier-1 auto OEMs such as Honda, Nissan, Volvo, and Hyundai, as well as world-class software and service suppliers such as Fujitsu, Ericsson, Garmin, and Wind River®.

Today the open source approach extends beyond individual software projects to open automotive software platforms. For example, Wind River Helix™ Cockpit provides a comprehensive open framework of Linux-based software for the rapid development of rich in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), telematics, communications gateway, and digital cluster systems capable of advanced connectivity features in a secure environment. It is a highly tuned reference distribution that runs today on Intel’s Software Defined Cockpit (SDC) hardware solution, leverages open standards, and pre-integrates key components such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, DLNA, media playback, and phone projection. The result is enhanced connectivity both inside and outside the vehicle. Helix Cockpit is optimized for the latest Intel Atom processors.

Open Source Advantages

It may seem, at first glance, that the open source concept is completely at odds with the cutthroat, dog-eat-dog nature of the auto industry. How can freely available software and collaborative, community-based development practices create competitive advantages and unique business value? A closer look, however, reveals that open source software is not only helpful but essential to competitive success.

For starters, the open source approach is demonstrably better than the proprietary model at solving many of the core software challenges auto OEMs face. Open source delivers advantages in multiple categories, including: Quality: In the open source model, thousands of developers are coding, testing, and refining the software simultaneously. With the proprietary approach automakers are limited to what their internal teams can accomplish. Cost: Open source has no huge up-front licensing fee and no upgrade fees. Support packages are commercially available but entirely optional. Freedom: With open source software there is no vendor lock-in. OEMs can share features that are non-differentiating and use the freely available code base to create highly differentiated commercial products. Integration: Linux makes it easy to integrate third-party frameworks and applications, such as multimedia players, navigation systems, smartphone apps, multi-screen displays, in-vehicle cameras, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), even silicon. Scale: With the ability to be a fully configurable stack with full source code, scaling up or down is extremely easy without losing support benefits. Talent pool: A majority of developers favorably view organizations with open source initiatives, making it relatively easy to find and hire developers. Security: With continuous development and testing by thousands of developers around the world, software bugs and security vulnerabilities can be detected and remediated extremely quickly. Graphics: Linux and AGL are known for exceptional graphics support, including popular frameworks such as QT and HTML5—important for cockpit screens that require clarity and readability. Support: Open source software offers broader, more responsive, and often less expensive support options. Auditability: Since developers have free and continuous access to the code they can more easily ensure that it conforms with both internal and external compliance and regulatory requirements.

The benefits listed above are just the obvious tactical advantages. Open source software also addresses many of the most critical strategic challenges auto OEMs face, including: Integrating the supply chain: As the auto industry moves from the traditional supply chain to the new software-oriented supply chain of the connected car, open source software is uniquely capable of facilitating the integration of contributions from multiple players. With an open source platform, auto OEMs can synchronize the previously siloed systems and processes of partners ranging from silicon vendors to electronic integrators to cloud service providers to traditional mechanical system and hardware vendors. Supporting future car architectures: The architectural underpinnings of the connected car are evolving at an accelerating rate, making it difficult to keep pace. Open source is at the cutting edge of innovation, and there are open source projects addressing virtually every category of future car architectures—from infrastructure and tools (Yocto Project, Xen Project, Kinetic Open Storage Project, etc.) to cloud platforms and services (Hadoop, Cloud Foundry, Hyperledger Project, etc.). Automakers should carefully evaluate the open source options in all relevant categories, explore the possibilities, and contribute to promising initiatives. Addressing automotive safety and security issues: When automotive safety is a function of software, security becomes paramount—particularly when it comes to new areas of exploration such as autonomous vehicles. The press is already rife with speculation about hackers causing accidents or disrupting safety-critical systems—not to mention stealing personal data or wreaking havoc with GPS systems. The open source approach can help automakers stay a step ahead of malicious attacks by expediting everything from bug fixes to software patches to security vulnerability testing. When thousands of developers are alert to the security issues and vigilantly testing and fixing issues, safety and security are maximized.

The Big Payoff: Accelerated Innovation

Ironically, the single biggest benefit of the open source model is often overlooked: the ability to innovate faster and get better products to market sooner.

Speed is of the essence as automakers transform themselves into software companies. Auto OEMs need to spend less time on things that should be commodities—such as the core OS, connectivity components, etc.—and more time on things that make money and differentiate the brand—such as app development, testing, and deployment. The open source model supports that objective by expediting every aspect of ideation and product development.

Auto Executives: Open Your Minds to Open Source

While the philosophical arguments over proprietary vs. open source models continue, forward-looking auto OEMs are already making money, creating competitive advantages, and enhancing their brands by embracing open source software. In the spirit that drives the open source movement, auto executives should be encouraged to explore the possibilities of this approach—and focus on what counts most to your customers and your business: faster innovation and better products at a lower cost.

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