MeeGo eyes your BMW dashboard as GENIVI Alliance plan cross-platform ICE

A few weeks ago it was Microsoft in your Lexus; now it's MeeGo in your BMW.  The GENIVI Alliance – a nonprofit group focusing on in-vehicle entertainment (IVI) founded by BMW, GM, Intel and others – has decided to adopt MeeGo as the basis of their next release, using the Linux OS for its multimedia, navigation, internet and other abilities, together with its future integration with tablets, smartphones and netbooks.

While the GENIVI Alliance don't make IVI equipment themselves, what they do offer are reference builds that car manufacturers can use to reduce their development cycle.  According to Graham Smethurst, president of GENIVI, the group intends "to establish a solution that effectively merges IVI needs with those of the other MeeGo target device categories" including smartphones, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and IVI systems.

Existing GENIVI members include Hyundai, Renault, Delphi, Peugeot-Citroen and of course BMW and GM, while hardware partners include Intel, ARM, NVIDIA and Sirius XM.  No word on a timescale for the MeeGo-based GENIVI release.

Press Release:

MeeGo Software Platform Chosen by the GENIVI Alliance

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2010 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the GENIVI Alliance has chosen MeeGo as the basis of its next reference release for In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI).

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 are pleased to see GENIVI choose MeeGo to power their software platform," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "MeeGo has been built from the ground up for these types of applications. Because MeeGo is a truly open platform, the work GENIVI will do to extend the platform can benefit the project and all who use it. For developers, this is a great opportunity to harness the power of the MeeGo APIs to target a variety of devices and architectures and extend their work on handset applications toward vehicles."

"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 http://www.meego.com/downloads. Interested parties can download and contribute to the project. The MeeGo project encourages all automakers or industry groups to participate in the MeeGo project or make use of its software to power their own distributions.

About the GENIVI Alliance

GENIVI is a non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform. GENIVI will accomplish this by aligning requirements, delivering reference implementations, offering certification programs and fostering a vibrant open source IVI community. Our work will result in shortened development cycles, quicker time-to-market, and reduced costs for companies developing IVI equipment and software.

About the Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by hosting important workgroups, events such as LinuxCon, and online resources such as Linux.com (http://www.linux.com). For more information, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org (http://www.linuxfoundation.org) or follow the organization on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/linuxfoundation.