BMW is looking for partners to create automobile Open Source platform

5th November 2008

The German automobile giant BMW at the conference of Convergence 2008 announced its intention to develop a software open-source platform for use in cars.
The company is now seeking partners for joint development of this Open Source project. According to a BMW representative, they are going to create a software open-source platform for â€œa vehicleâ€ (car?), sales of which in the near 5-7 years are going to account for about 200 thousand units.
The conference was attended by representatives of other giants of the automotive industry: Chrysler, Ford Motor, General Motors and Honda. Though BMW urged everyone to join their ambitious project, none of these companies gave any response for far. However, a representative of General Motors said that his company is thinking over joining the project, and the decision will be made in the next 6-12 months.
According to Automotive News Europe, the Open Source-platform is planned to be based on Linux. Main technology partners of BMW on the project are the companies Wind River Systems Inc. and Intel Corp.