Linux is in our computers, our phones, our Wi-Fi equipment, and our TiVos — why not our cars? Intel Corp. and Wind River have been working with both the embedded and automotive industries to advance in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) with open, Linux-based, standards-based, interoperable hardware and software called Open Infotainment Platforms (OIP).
The name of their game is to make it possible for both car manufacturers and after-market vendors to bring new infotainment products and features to market faster to meet consumer demands. According to Ton Steenman, Intel’s vice president of the Digital Enterprise Group and general manager of the Low-Power Embedded Products Division, there has been a major shift in the automobile industry towards adding media and information built-in devices to cars.
“We see car manufacturers wanting to extend the media digital experience into the automobile, and making it so that these devices are always connected to the Internet. The industry has been trying to do this the old way of taking several years to set up a technology and then modifying it slowly as needed. That isn’t doing it for them. They’ve been worked with Intel for two years now on how to unleash stuff quickly. So, we’ve worked on the definition and development of an OIP,” Steenman says.