Automotive Grade Linux, a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open source platform for connected car technologies, has announced that Volkswagen has joined Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) and the Linux Foundation, the non-profit organization enabling mass innovation through open source.
AGL is an open source project at the Linux Foundation that is changing the way automotive manufacturers build software. More than 130 members are working together to develop a common platform that can serve as the de facto industry standard for infotainment, telematics and instrument cluster applications. Adopting an open platform across the industry enables auto makers and suppliers to share and reuse the same code base, which reduces development costs, decreases time-to-market for new products and reduces fragmentation across the industry.
In 2008, Volkswagen contributed the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus networking subsystem to the Linux Kernel 2.6.25, which paved the way for a standardized socket API for developers and a common CAN network driver model for SoCs and PC-style CAN hardware. Within this contribution process, Volkswagen and non-automotive CAN users learned a lot from each other’s use-cases so that the Linux CAN support is now widely used in industrial, automotive and academic setups (e.g. CERN).
Working with communities and providing knowledge, ideas and source code requires a new mindset in the automotive industry. Volkswagen is joining AGL to become a member of the development community for the common automotive Linux platform.
Developed through a joint effort by dozens of member companies, the AGL Unified Code Base (UCB) platform is an open source software platform for infotainment, telematics and instrument cluster applications. It provides 70% of the starting point for a production project and includes an operating system, middleware and application framework. Automakers and suppliers can customize the platform with features, services and branding to meet their unique product and customer needs.