Audi, Elektrobit launch infotainment JV

The yet unnamed joint venture plans to provide an infotainment framework for automotive environments and thus enhance the reuse of software for in-vehicle infotainment systems. The environment in question will sit upside of the operating system. For this reason, it will be operating system independent, an Elektrobit spokesperson said. With respect to the open-source group Genivi which aims at developing and deploying an open software environment for car infotainment applications, the spokesperson said that the company's software won't compete with Genivi. "We rather complement it," he said. "Our software will also sit on top of the Genivi environment, but there will be interfaces to exchange data."

The Audi side of the joint venture is represented by the car vendor's technology subsidiary Audi Electronics Ventures GmbH (AEV). AEV will hold 49 percent of the shares of the company.

While AEV will control the software roll-out into Audi, Elektrobit will sell it to other vendors, including Audi concern parent Volkswagen. The spokesperson declined to elaborate if there will be different versions. He also declined to provide a timeline.

The joint venture will reside in Gaimersheim (Germany), at the same location as AEV. The company will be co-managed by Uwe Reder who hitherto oversaw Elektrobit's Engineering Infotainment, and Riclef Schmidt-Clausen, formerly the head of Audi's Radio/Multimedia development department.

Auto alliance targets open-source platform development

Analysis: Automotive software, hardware focuses on head unit