Since the formation of the GENIVI Alliance, and since I joined the board of directors 16 months ago, I have often been faced with questions like “What is GENIVI?”, “What is GENIVI compliance?” and “Why should I care about GENIVI?”. Like many young consortiums or industry alliances, it can take a while for it to find its identity, define its purpose and achieve its goals. Make no mistake; these questions were sometimes very difficult to answer… until now.
On August 2nd, we announced the launch of the GENIVI Member Compliance Program. This program is a critically important milestone for the GENIVI Alliance and is the result of over 2 years of hard work to define a detailed set of technical requirements. These requirements form the basis of a Compliance Specification with well-defined Linux-based OS, middleware and frameworks for sound, graphics, video, Internet connectivity, Bluetooth, media management, location-based services, and much more.
One of the goals of the Compliance Program is to provide well-defined requirements while at the same time allowing differentiation in meeting those requirements. This will result in a thriving GENIVI ecosystem built around these standards, while allowing flexibility for differentiation and value-added features. As an indication of this, upon the launch of the program, GENIVI already announced four GENIVI compliant Linux distributions, including the MontaVista Automotive Technology Platform. Please be sure to have a look at the press release and the GENIVI Compliance web page.
Now that GENIVI Compliance is well defined, we will start to see product RFPs and RFQs, from automotive OEMs and Tier-1 companies, that will require GENIVI compliance. Why is this important? By defining standards, utilizing open platforms, and by leveraging Linux and open source code, the goal is that this will result in a significant amount of reuse, lower costs and accelerate time-to-market. It will also accelerate the pace of innovation by providing well-defined open frameworks that 3rd party ISVs can depend on for their product development. This approach has been very successful in other industries, and we expect it to be very successful within GENIVI.
For me, the launch of this GENIVI Compliance Program is more than just the creation of a specification. It is GENIVI finding its legitimate purpose. It is GENIVI hitting its stride. It is saying to the world that this is the place for future IVI innovation and standards. It is the answer to those questions I mentioned, and it will silence any potential critics. It is saying to the world that GENIVI is here, and it is here to stay.
We have big plans to improve and add new requirements to future versions of the specification. Stay tuned for future announcements.
Dan Cauchy’s Bio: http://www.mvista.com/team_cauchy.php
