Mentor Blogs

Next week in Barcelona over 400 Automotive industry experts are expected at the latest GENIVI All-Members meeting. Over 5 days, more than 100 separate meetings are scheduled, covering a wide range of topics relating to In-Vehicle Infotainment platforms. An on-going challenge with the GENIVI project is to build in sufficient flexibility that the platform can be used by a wide range of Tier One and OEM … Read More

Infotainment, Android, Infotainment Android Linux, GENIVI, Genivi Alliance, Linux, Automotive

We just wrapped up our google hangout with Alison Chaiken and Ravi Puvalla discussing the use of Linux in automotive systems. It was a pretty interactive discussion and questions covered quite a wide range of topics including AUTOSAR, V2V communication, automotive networks and buses, as well as some opinions from attendees on security and liability. You can view the archive on the event page and post … Read More

vehicle to vehicle communication, AUTOSAR, google hangout, Automotive, v2v communication, v2x comunication, Infotainment, Linux

Renesas made a rather significant announcement this week, launching the newest system-on-chip (SoC) in its R-Car series. It refers to the device – the R-Car H2 – as “a complete solution for next-generation high-end multimedia and navigation” with “high performance and state-of-the-art 3D graphics capabilities.” The performance comes in part from ARM’s big.LITTLE processing technology, which in … Read More

Renesas, QNX Software Systems, Wind River, Blu-Ray, Elektrobit, ARM, Mentor Graphics, Microsoft, Imagination Technologies, Infotainment

Allison Chaiken recently presented this information at the Embedded Linux conference in San Francisco. Alison and Ravi Puvvala will host a Google Hangout to discuss this topic further, with some question and answer opportunity. We hope you’ll be able to join us. Her abstract for the sessions follows: From the embedded point of view, a car is a LAN with a large number of CPUs ranging from internally … Read More

automotive network, GENIVI, Automotive, Infotainment, Linux

The role of Android as an alternative to embedded Linux has been a subject of quite a bit of discussion recently. As the use of open source software in automotive gains momentum there are differing opinions on the subject of using Android, Linux or both. The Linux Foundation recently wrote a post summarizing a discussion during a panel at the Android Builders Summit as well as some interviews from … Read More

Infotainment, IVI, Automotive, MontaVista, Virtualization, Linux, linux container

Two weeks ago we announced the acquisition of the MontaVista Automotive Business Unit, including the Linux IVI (infotainment) platform called the MontaVista Automotive Technology Platform. When Mark Mitchell, GM of Open Source Embedded Solutions, was interviewed by EE Times he mentioned he expected to be have a combined release of the MontaVista Linux solution for IVI and the Mentor Embedded Infotainment … Read More

Infotainment, IVI, Automotive, yocto project, MontaVista Automotive Technology Platform, openembedded

Voice activated features such as placing calls have been available in automobiles for many years. Today the most advanced systems under development and research are in the areas of autonomous vehicles. At the Embedded World Conference 2013 I was reminded about a car from the 1980’s that already had all these capabilities built in. Yes it was KITT (the Knight Industries Two Thousand)! The car was right … Read More

Linux, Infotainment, Automotive, Automotive IVI, Android, Embedded World, Autonomous Vehicle, AUTOSAR

This is what some in industry would have you believe; I disagree  Thinking back to the 1990’s and 2000’s we heard the same thing about Linux as an OS for servers.  It’s clear from the use of Linux in servers today and the many consumer devices built on Linux that the OS and its ecosystem can meet very demanding business and technical needs, addressing and overcoming many of the shortcomings cited in … Read More

GENIVI, Infotainment, Automotive, IVI, Linux

  STMicroelectronics announced a new strategic plan in which it will exit its mobile platform and wireless semiconductor alliance, ST-Ericsson, and focus on two product-segment organizations – Sense & Power and Automotive Products, and Embedded Processing Solutions. Sense & Power and Automotive includes MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and other sensors, power discrete and advanced … Read More

low-g accelerometer, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), Infotainment, STMicroelectronics, Powertrain, ST-Ericsson

One of the main themes at the Connected Infotainment event in London this week,  was exactly how   cars will get themselves connected to the internet? There was wide agreement that within 10 years most new cars will be in direct wireless contact with each other, and the outside world, to enable a range of cloud-based services. These will include routine updates on traffic, weather, and road conditions … Read More

Infotainment, Automotive

Freescale picked Beijing and Bangalore for their recent Technology Forum events – two very different cities, but some common themes at both events. Noticeable at both events was a tremendous appetite for new technology – around 1500 designers attended each event, hungry for new innovations particularly in the areas of smart energy, connected devices, automotive, and home-automation. China’s semiconductor … Read More

Freescale, Infotainment, Automotive, Mentor Embedded

I was involved in a discussion about driver workload management the other week. It is a fascinating topic and I can see it becoming a much more important feature of in-vehicle HMIs in the coming years. The basic concept is pretty straightforward – when a driver is in a high workload situation (e.g. driving at 70mph on a crowded freeway), the HMI adapts so that the functionality available to the driver … Read More

CAN/LIN, Medical, Energy, Freescale, Ethernet, Infotainment, MOST, Automotive, IVI, SoC, flexray

I was involved in a discussion about driver workload management the other week. It is a fascinating topic and I can see it becoming a much more important feature of in-vehicle HMIs in the coming years.  The basic concept is pretty straightforward – when a driver is in a high workload situation (e.g. driving at 70mph on a crowded freeway), the HMI adapts so that the functionality available to the driver … Read More

Driver Distraction, Automotive, Infotainment, IVI, HMI, Inflexion

At Mentor Graphics IESF in Detroit last month Paul Hansen, editor and publisher of The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics (hansenreport.com) told attendees that automotive cloud computing “will bring about an upheaval in automotive electronics” over the next decade or two. “No longer do carmakers have to rely only on the computing power and memory they can afford to embed in the vehicle; they … Read More

Kia, Infotainment, Laird Technologies, automotive cloud computing, Toyota, Verizon Wireless, 4G Venture Forum for Connected Cars, LTE, Hyundai, Mentor Graphics, IESF, telematics 4G LTE ecosystem, Driver Assistance Systems, The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Honda

I attended an excellent automotive HMI conference in Europe last week, with attendees from many of the top OEMs and tier-1 suppliers.  As we all know, automotive HMI is a complicated subject, and hence topics ranged from driver distraction,  workload management,  usability studies, the desire of drivers to access their favourite internet applications in the car and the recently published NHTSA driver … Read More

HMI, Automotive, IVI, UI, Inflexion, Infotainment