What is GENIVI?
GENIVI is a non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) open source development platform. GENIVI will accomplish this through three top level activities: aligning requirements, delivering reference implementations and offering certification programs.
What is In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI)?
In-Vehicle Infotainment or IVI covers entertainment and information features and functionality available in automobiles. IVI is a rapidly changing and expanding field within the automotive industry. It covers many types of vehicle infotainment applications including music, news and multimedia, navigation and location services, telephony, internet services and more.
Who will be part of the GENIVI Alliance?
GENIVI is open to all organizations engaged in the automotive, consumer electronic, communications, application development and entertainment industries who are interested in the success of in-vehicle infotainment systems and related products.
What are GENIVI's goals and objectives?
GENIVI's aim is to foster a vibrant open source IVI community by:
- Delivering a reusable, open source platform consisting of linux-based core services, middleware, and open application layer interfaces
- Engaging developers to deliver compliant applications
- Sponsoring technical, marketing, and compliance programs
What characterizes an “IVI open source development platform” ?
The GENIVI open source platform consists of linux-based core services, middleware, and open application layer interfaces. These are the essential, but non-differentiating, core elements of the overall IVI solution set. The automobile manufacturers and their suppliers will use this platform as their common underlying framework and add to it their differentiated products and services (the consumer facing applications and interfaces). GENIVI is identifying these common automotive infotainment industry requirements to establish a higher baseline from which to develop products for the common good of the ecosystem.
Will elements like HMI/user interfaces and its design/styles be included in the GENIVI platform?
The GENIVI IVI platform does not currently address the highly competitive areas such as user interfaces and logic that defines the end-user experience. The alliance is built on the notion that user interfaces and logic are what distinguishes products and thus, should remain in the domain of the vendors who design and deliver the device and software.
How will GENIVI's work be accomplished?
The majority of GENIVI's work is accomplished through the technical and marketing councils and their respective working groups. The Technical Steering Council develops and monitors the technical working plan of the alliance including requirement collection and specification development; adherence to IPR policies and processes; testing and release of reference implementations; and adoption and compliance activities. Technical working groups include System Infrastructure, Multimedia CE, Automotive, and Mobile Office/Internet.
The Marketing Council develops the alliance marketing plan, manages internal and external communications, and facilitates programs which bring greater awareness to the alliance and its deliverables.
When will the first release of the GENIVI Reference Platform be available?
Development of the first release of the GENIVI platform is already well underway. It is based on a tested and proven prototype developed over a period of 18 months that is being matured and ported to open source distribution. This release is planned for summer 2009.
What are the main benefits for the automotive industry of a reusable, open source IVI platform?
A reusable, open source IVI platform will:
- Speed time-to-market
- Accelerate innovation and increase perceived value
- Dramatically reduce development costs
- Provide a basis on which to cultivate the IVI ecosystem
- Provide code transparency and mitigate vendor lock-in
What are the advantages of open source solutions over proprietary solutions?
An open source IVI platform provides 3 key benefits:
- A common target for software developers seeking to enter the automotive domain. The current fragmentation means that the automotive OEM has to trigger the development and the software developer has to accept that the potential product volume is limited. A consistent platform deployment would address both of these limitations.
- Multi sourcing of a consistent but commercialized software platform. It is Genivi´s intention that they will become the upstream feed for the commercialized products. Genivi will encourage multiple commercial distributions to provide the 1st tiers and OEM with compliant alternatives.
- Transparency and an unprecedented level of access during development. A combination of consistency and visibility will enable a structured approach to product validation that will drastically improve efficiency across the value chain.
What is Moblin and how does it relate to GENIVI?
Moblin is an open source project focused on developing software for new categories of devices such as Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and NetBooks. In partnership with GENIVI, Moblin will act as an independent distribution mechanism for the first GENIVI open source reference implementations. The combination of the Moblin and GENIVI code will provide a automotive infotainment reference implementation that takes the best from both the consumer and automotive worlds.
Will GENIVI have a product certification program?
Once GENIVI has delivered specifications and reference implementations, it will define and execute a program that enables member companies to certify products based on the GENIVI platform. This program will document a set of test specifications for use by alliance members.
Will GENIVI license its technology to non-members?
This is currently under discussion.
Who should join GENIVI?
All organizations engaged in the automotive, consumer electronic, communications, application development and entertainment industries who are invested in the success of IVI systems and related products and services.
What are the main benefits of GENIVI membership?
The top benefits exclusively available to GENIVI members are:
- Members have full access and insight into all work in process, providing a head start competitive advantage.
- Active participants influence the technical direction of the alliance through contributions to the development of specifications, reference architectures, implementation guidelines, test suites, and compliance/certification programs
- 3. Members will use the released GENIVI specifications and implementation guidelines to reduce development costs and shorten time to market
- Members will have access GENIVI test specifications and compliance/certification programs
What is the derivation of the name GENIVI?
GENIVI (pronounced gen-ee-vee) is a concatenation of Geneva, the international city of peace and the acronym IVI, for In-Vehicle Infotainment, heralding a new era of cooperation among automakers, suppliers and technology providers in the interest of streamlining the development and support of connected services to cars aligned with mobile devices.
How can I join GENIVI Alliance?
Joining is easy, simply download, sign and return the member agreement with your payment for the appropriate amount.
Where can I get more information about GENIVI?
You can email any questions you have to our help desk at help@genivi.org
How can I stay in touch with GENIVI news and information?
We will email periodic updates to everyone who signs up for our interest list.