Toyota Motor Corp of Japan has begun developing an operating system (OS) for automotive terminals, to handle functions such as navigation, telematics and driving support. Under joint development with the Center for Embedded Computing Systems of Nagoya University, an organization for collaboration between the research industry and academia, the OS is slated for commercial roll-out in 2010. The goal is to make it simpler to implement new applications combining functions from information and control systems.
Toyota has defined the future automotive terminal as including a single multi-core microprocessor, supporting parallel execution of the information systems OS and the control systems OS. The joint effort with Nagoya University is on the information systems OS, and functions to link that to the control systems OS, among other things (see Fig). The information systems OS is being developed from a Unix base. OS linking functions will include communications between the two OSs, and a function to allocate microprocessor resources between them.
The automotive terminal will use a multi-processor core to make it possible to drop the operating frequency, thereby minimizing heat and dissipation. The project will not define a single processor, but open the way for multi-vendor product selection. The information OS will implement a network protocol and therefore potentially post security risks, so plans call for a firewall function to permit only known-safe communication between the OSs.
Toyota hopes to make the results of the research available to other automobile and automotive terminal manufacturers via the Japan Automotive Software Platform and Architecture (JasPar) group, a standards organization. The first step is the submission to JasPar of a proposal for a working group to consider automotive terminal OS specifications.
Car navigation system manufacturers currently deliver products running on the Windows Automotive OS from Microsoft Corp of the US, or an OS based on the uITRON specification. Toyota feels that the only way to reduce duplicated software development load among various corporations, along with cost, is to develop a single OS. The company made the decision to develop its own OS for information systems because, "We wanted to take control of the direction of OS development," explained Kazuhiko Hayashi, general manager, Electronics Engineering Div, Vehicle Engineering Group, Toyota.
Toyota is already moving towards a single control systems OS: development of the proprietary OSEK/VDX OS is completed, and it is being prepped now for deployment in commercial vehicles starting in summer 2006. The firm believes that keeping to a Toyota-developed OS for both the information and control systems will assure safety, clarify the costs of software development for electronic control unit (ECU) and automotive terminals, and promote application software reuse.
by Tomohisa Takei
(June 2006 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)
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