Key Automobile Alliance Chooses MeeGo For Cars

The Linux Foundation today announced that GENIVI, an auto-alliance driving the adoption of In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI), will adopt MeeGo as the standard software environment for IVI systems built by car companies including GENIVI members BMW and General Motors. MeeGo-based IVI devices will provide Internet-based features such as rear-seat entertainment, navigation, and entertainment, with the potential for social networking, hands-free interaction, and other multimedia. Intel also recently announced Chinese car company HawTai will adopt the Intel Atom processor for their upcoming IVI system and optimized for MeeGo.

MeeGo is an open source platform hosted by The Linux Foundation that brings together Intel Corporation and Nokia’s previous projects and is designed for computing device types including smartphones, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and IVI systems. Adoption by this major automotive alliance is a testament to the cross-device, cross-architecture advantages of the MeeGo platform. GENIVI is a nonprofit industry alliance with founding members BMW Group, Delphi, GM, Intel, Magneti-Marelli, PSA, Visteon and Wind River.

IVI is a rapidly growing and evolving field that encompasses the digital applications that can be used by all occupants of a vehicle, including navigation, entertainment, location-based services, and connectivity to devices, car networks and broadband networks. MeeGo will provide the base for the upcoming GENIVI Apollo release that will be used by members to reduce time to market and the cost of IVI development. MeeGo’s platform contains a Linux base, middleware, and an interface layer that powers these rich applications.

“We selected MeeGo as the open source basis for our platform because it is technically innovative and can provide the cross architecture build support we require for our references,” said Graham Smethurst, President of GENIVI. “Working with MeeGo we expect to establish a solution that effectively merges IVI needs with those of the other MeeGo target device categories.”

“Access to a thriving ecosystem and engaging applications for an in-vehicle infotainment system is vital to our customers,” said Gerulf Kinkelin, GENIVI Director and Innovation Area Manager for Electronics and Telematices, PSA Peugeot Citroen. “PSA supports GENIVI’s decision and believes the rapid innovation associated with open source and a rich network of contributors available with MeeGo can enable us to define and deliver a faster time-to-market, outstanding IVI experience in our upcoming products.”

An initial release of the MeeGo platform is available now from www.meego.com/downloads . Interested parties can download and contribute to the project.