GENIVI Alliance gains ground in Japanese automotive industry

Tokyo — The GENIVI Alliance, an industry association driving the development and adoption of an open In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform, has continued expansion of its membership with the addition of five Japan-based companies — Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Alpine Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer Corporation and Rohm CO, Ltd.

GENIVI Alliance members expect that Nissan and these companies will greatly contribute to advancing the development of an open IVI stack through the GENIVI Alliance. Combined with the support of the growing GENIVI Alliance, these efforts will reduce time-to-market and total cost of ownership for companies developing IVI equipment and software.

"As one of the top 10 automotive manufacturers, Nissan represents a new hemisphere of influence for GENIVI," said Graham Smethurst, GENIVI Alliance president.

The participation of these companies in the Alliance will broaden the consortium's coverage across Europe, North America, and Japan. Since its founding in March 2009, GENIVI has grown from eight founding members, including BMW Group, Delphi, GM, Intel, Magneti Marelli, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Visteon, and Wind River, to more than 40 members and continues to drive automotive and consumer electronics connectivity, multimedia and performance capabilities through open source adoption.

Paul Hansen, publisher of the Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics comments that software is becoming one of the most important factors in developing automotive systems and open source innovation will dramatically change this market. He contends that improving the overall quality of and reusability of software will allow carmakers to bring features to market more quickly and cost effectively and will drive competitive offerings that meet consumers' needs.

For further information visit www.genivi.org.