BMW wants open source platform in cars

Car manufacturer BMW advocates an open source platform as the basis for electronic systems in its cars. The company hopes that other manufacturers will also join the open source initiative.

During a panel meeting of five car manufacturers, BMW was the sole manufacturer for the time being that it wanted to implement an open source platform in its cars. The German car manufacturer wants to provide a car model with a circulation of at least 200,000 units with open source software within five to seven years. According to BMW’s Gunter Reichart would require the use of open source software to keep up with the rapid developments in in-car entertainment. For example, Linux users and software developers would work together to develop programs faster and develop a plug-and-play platform for car entertainment.

The other four automakers, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Honda, were unwilling to commit, but would not be unsympathetic to the idea. For example, General Motors will not make a final decision until next year, although a technical chief of the car company, Chris Thibodeau, is enthusiastic about using open source. Chrysler, through Andreas Schell, also advocates an open source approach, but would like to see a standardized, SDK-like solution. Ford and Honda currently use Microsoft’s and Ford’s Sync software, although Ford’s Jim Buczkowski doesn’t want to pass Linux in advance either.