Linux is becoming the standard system of cars

Only some brands such as Cadillac and Tesla Motors used Linux for certain systems in their cars, but more and more brands are betting on the Linux kernel for their vehicles.

In fact, the Linux Foundation has bet very strong for this new sector of connected cars creating under its umbrella the AGL (Automotive Grade Linux), an open source project to implement an operating system and open framework for cars of all kinds.

This started in 2012 and since then has progressed a lot, with members of the likes of Toyota (and Lexus evidently), which is the largest car manufacturer in the world, and others such as Fujitsu, HARMAN, NVIDIA, Renesas, Samsung, Texas Instruments , Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover, DENSO, Mazda, Panasonic, Suzuki, Honda, Amazon, NTT Data, Mercedes Benz, Pioneer, Qualcomm, Mitsubishi Electric, Adobe, ARM, Collabora, Eureka, Hitachi, Hyundai, Intel, LG, NEC, Microchip, Mediatek, SiFive, NXP, Oracle, Sony, Subaru, Toshiba, Synopsys, Qt, Trend Micro, and a very long etc. eye! And that a brand is not here does not mean that it does not collaborate or that it does not use it, only that its implication is not so great.

As you know, Linux has not conquered the only sector that remains to dominate, since the rest are totally dominated by it. It is paradoxical that it was created precisely for the sector that does not dominate, the desk. Instead, it has devastated servers, supercomputers, embedded devices, mobile devices, new IoT devices, industry, and other fields like the one we are dealing with today, that of connected vehicles.

Appliances, televisions, weapons, cars, wearables ... the truth is that Linux is everywhere, except in the desktop computers and laptops of users that is where it should be. On the other hand, in this sense, only quotas are obtained that, depending on the statistics that you see, oscillate between 2 and 4% in the most optimistic cases, and adding ChromeOS as such. On the other hand, its competitors like MacOS and Windows, get figures close to 10% and more than 80% for Microsoft.

The question that arises is: is it really so vital that Linux dominates the PC having all the power that Linux has? Well, I leave this question for you to reflect ...

As I said, not only AGL is becoming the de facto system in the automotive industry, to be used for on-board systems or computers, but it is also present in the engines and other parts of the car, since the current cars they use systems of electronic aids that need a computer that usually is usually an embedded system with a microprocessor such as the PowerPC to control the traction control system, stability system, etc.

The extension of Linux is such, that you may not have to ask yourself if your car uses Linux or not, but rather, how many Linux systems does my car have? One, two, three ... Even in the competition teams of the highest motorsport categories such as Formula 1, they use Linux. The electronic control units (ECU) of the F1 have a PowerPC QuadCore, a system embedded with Linux for the control of all the sensors, steering wheel and telemetry of the car. This ECU is manufactured by McLaren Electronics and has been standardized, so all the equipment is used.

Those more than 140 members that we have mentioned at the beginning in part, are there to collaborate with each other and create a great AGL instead of developing on their own an independent system, which would be more expensive and with a much worse result. Thus, they take the philosophy of the open source community and all contribute their bit to create a great mountain that we can all enjoy in the vehicles of today and tomorrow.

The result of this project, all this joint work is the UCB (Unified Code Base) representing 70% of the complete OS, that is, a unified open source source that will then be used by each of the members that needs it, making the timely modifications, such as adding certain functionalities on that basis, different interfaces, etc., depending on the needs of each one.

Although the experience of the end user may be different in each of the models and brands of vehicles, the bases are the same, providing robustness, safety, and performance without equal. This is something similar to what happens with Google Android, they make the base available to manufacturers, but each manufacturer such as Samsung, Xiaomi, etc., create a modified GUI for their terminals, while others, such as the terminals themselves from Google, or the BQ, etc., prefer to use the default interface.

In addition, in computers with AGL on board the cars, we will also find a series of different applications installed according to each manufacturer. Being connected cars, the new cars that are being sold also offer other own services or advantages that will have to be implemented and integrated with AGL so that they have support in the car models.

For example, the Swedish brand Volvo uses the so-called Sensus Connect and Care by Volvo for its cars. The first is based on Linux, of course, and offers an intelligent onboard computer with a multitude of options for both driving and entertainment, such as listening to your favorite music with the Spotify app that was also born in Sweden, a total connection with our mobile devices that we carry, etc.

Date update on 2019-01-11. Date published on 2019-01-11. Category: linux Author: Oscar olg Fuente: linuxadictos
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