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Linux For Cars: Tesla Isn't The Only Automaker Running Linux Under the Hood (zdnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the open-source-under-the-hood dept.

ZDNet reports that by 2020, "many, if not most, new cars will be running with Linux." While some companies, like Tesla, run their own homebrew Linux distros, most rely on Automotive Grade Linux (AGL). AGL is a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open platform for connected cars with over 140 members... Its membership includes Audi, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Mercedes, Suzuki, and the world's biggest automobile company: Toyota. Why? "Automakers are becoming software companies, and just like in the tech industry, they are realizing that open source is the way forward," said Dan Cauchy, AGL's executive director, in a statement.

Car companies know that while horsepower sells, customers also want smart infotainment systems, automated safe drive features, and, eventually, self-driving cars. Linux and open-source company can give them all of that. The AGL's goal is to develop an open-source, common platform for infotainment systems: The Unified Code Base (UCB). This is a Linux distribution and open-source software platform for car infotainment, telematics, and instrument cluster applications... The AGL's hope is that this will serve as a de facto industry standard. It's well on its way.
Yesterday Hyundai announced that they were also joining both the AGL effort and the Linux Foundation.

10 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. The year of Linux on the ... by tsqr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    2020: the year of Linux on the desktop, err, I mean the roadways.

    1. Re:The year of Linux on the ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      2021: the year you get it to boot (if it has systemd).

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Could be worse by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    could be Microsoft. I guess most automakers have given up on Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform.

    Are there any car manufacturers that makes a non-connected just plain, regular car currently?

    I'd prefer a standard transmission, maybe a couple USB ports, AC and no OnStar, No built-in cellular, no computers for anything more than controlling fuel injection...

    1. Re:Could be worse by darthsilun · · Score: 2

      Are there any car manufacturers that makes a non-connected just plain, regular car currently?

      Federal law requires back-up cameras in new cars. Once you have a backup camera and a radio, you might as well have an Entertainment System. Once you have an Entertainment System you might as well have phone, and music from the phone. Designing five different "radios" isn't free, so they design one and use it in everything.

      I was driving a 2000 model year car until I traded it in last year for a new car. I didn't think I cared about all the features on the new car, but now that I have them, I kinda don't want to forego them. It's a slippery slope.

      And TBH, forty years ago I used to fantasize having many of those things on the cars I was driving then and thought they'd be cool to have.

    2. Re:Could be worse by burningcpu · · Score: 2

      Some base models remain free of this junk. I bought a 2013 Nissan Versa S, the $12k model with manual windows, manual locks, manual transmission and a regular CD deck. A regular key starts it and I understand the engine bay.

      I later added tech that I wanted, where I wanted.

  3. Re:Am I still restricted? by tsqr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can my passengers connect their Bluetooth phones, or program the GPS while the car is in motion, or has the technology not reached that point yet?

    The technology reached that point years ago, but auto makers haven't kept up. It would be pretty simple to detect that the driver has both hands on the steering wheel when the car is in motion, and enable those functions under that condition. Maybe they're worried that the driver would try to push the buttons with his nose.

  4. Re:Am I still restricted? by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can my passengers connect their Bluetooth phones, or program the GPS while the car is in motion,

    In my Tesla, programming the GPS while driving is simple:
    1. Press the scroll wheel button on the steering wheel.
    2. Say "Navigate to xyz".
    Done.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  5. QNX in the car biz a non-tech failure? by Freshly+Exhumed · · Score: 2

    When Blackberry purchased QNX, they intended that the auto industry would be fertile new soil for that terrific real time OS. Years later, the rise of Automotive Grade Linux seems to indicate that the QNX platform has had some sort of impediments that are likely non-technical, perhaps to do with licensing?

    --
    I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
    1. Re:QNX in the car biz a non-tech failure? by Aighearach · · Score: 2

      Great idea for 1996, but these days you don't really want to use a realtime OS for an infotainment system. The more throughput, the better the frame rate, the latency isn't an issue.

      Plus with Linux you get a lot of free drivers. Manufacturers want to be able to squeeze everything for savings, so you needs lots of drivers. When a new cheaper IC comes out, you want to be able to use it. They're basically taking over the "car stereo" market as an industry, so they all benefit by working together.

  6. Re: And the desktop? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It hasn't failed as such. It's very difficult to compete with an entrenched monopoly.