Genivi: a new era in collaboration among automobile manufacturers and providers
By Infonomia

The GENIVI alliance is seeking a new era in cooperation among automobile manufacturers, component providers, and technology developers to streamline In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) products and services. Today’s vehicles are equipped with information and entertainment systems that encompass music, news, Internet, multimedia, navigation, tracking, and telecommunications.

As more and more applications are released, the cost and complexity of producing these systems increases. GENIVI is leading a program to develop, test and implement these technologies in diverse car ranges and models. It is promoting a reusable, open-source IVI platform whose benefits include faster product-to-market times, savings in development costs, transparency in solutions, more personalization options, and compatibility between different IVI systems from distinct vehicles and models.

GENIVI has established a compliance program that provides its members with a series of specifications to measure their products and services. The program delivers the level of standardization required for applications from different developers to run on all GENIVI distributions. Various products have already been deemed compliant, including MeeGo, which is Linux-based, and Ubuntu IVI Remix, which is Ubuntu-based.

Most of GENIVI’s work is directed by its technical and marketing teams and their respective groups. The Technical Board of Directors works on: compiling requirements and developing specifications; intellectual property law; testing and launching of reference implementations; and adoption and compliance of programs. The technical groups comprise the System Architecture Team (SAT); Multimedia; Automotive; Mobile Office & Internet; and Reference Systems. The marketing team handles all internal and external communications, and divulgates information on the Alliance and its results.

The founding members of GENIVI are the BMW Group, Wind River, Intel, GM, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Delphi, Magneti-Marelli and Visteon. The alliance currently has more than 100 members at different levels of participation that offer distinct benefits in terms of auditing, participatory and leadership rights. The levels are determined based on economic contribution:

  • Founding member: $300,000 first year fee / $100,000 annual renewal fee
  • Charter member: $150,000 first year fee / $100,000 annual renewal fee
  • Core member: $25,000 annual fee
  • Associate member: $5,000 annual fee