Automobile major General Motors and open source software company Red Hat have announced a collaboration to help advance software-defined vehicles with cloud connectivity. The well known IBM subsidiary and Linux developer Red Hat will provide its In-Vehicle Operating System to the GM's Ultifi platform, which it plans to launch in 2023.
The Ultifi platform, which the GM announced last year, is a cloud-based customer service platform is meant for in-car infotainment operations, battery management, communication between cars, smart infrastructure and even homes. It'll, basically, handle the software-defined features, apps, and services through over-the-air software updates.
Vehicle software updates to get easy
"In-vehicle software systems are complex and require high levels of cybersecurity protection and stringent certifications due to critical safety priorities. In current systems, these robust requirements can often lengthen the development process and make vehicle software updates difficult, with each update requiring recertification," a statement from Red Hat said.
Now, thanks to the collaboration, GM and Red Hat intend to make the complex vehicle updates simpler and more frequent by implementing continuous functional-safety certification into the Ultifi platform.
The integrated software is expected to support a variety of in-vehicle safety- and non-safety-related applications, including infotainment, advanced driver assistance systems, body control and connectivity.
Francis Chow, vice president and general manager, In-Vehicle Operating System and Edge, Red Hat, said: "With millions of lines of code sustaining critical systems like driver assistance, fuel economy and more, modern vehicles are more like mobile high performance computers than the cars of the past. The time to innovate is now. These new vehicles give our industries a chance to create a common open platform without sacrificing functional safety. By collaborating with GM on the Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System, we intend to bring the era of open source to the automotive world, benefiting automakers, ecosystem partners and consumers."
Ultifi to benefit from open-source development
Ultifi is like Android in the car. But just that Ultifi is meant for all software defined aspects of the vehicle, including safety systems like the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), steering and also the propulsion system as well as climate control, seat adjustments and more.
Scott Miller, vice president, Software Defined Vehicle and Operating System, General Motors, said: "General Motors is now a platform company and working with Red Hat is a critical element in advancing our Ultifi software development. Incorporating the company’s expertise in open source solutions and enterprise networks will pay dividends as we aim to provide the most developer-friendly software platform in the industry."
Being Linux-based, Ultifi can be be worked on by GM developers, suppliers and third-party developers. "Authorized third-party developers who meet strict security, safety and privacy standards will be given access to innovate on Ultifi to benefit GM customers directly," the company said. The transportation industry can benefit from faster innovation and better sustainability through standardization with open source Linux and cloud-native technologies.
