Ford and Toyota among global auto giants promoting open source software

In what appears like a move against Apple and Google, Ford and Toyota have established a non-profit organisation.

The new development is aimed at promoting open source software and delivering smartphone connectivity on future vehicles. Called the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, the organisation includes automakers Mazda Motor Corporation, PSA Group, Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki Motors in addition to Ford and Toyota. There are also suppliers like Elektrobit, Luxoft and Xevo. Further, Panasonic, Pioneer and QNX are also set to join the board. All these entities have apparently combined to rival Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto.

“Connectivity between smartphones and the vehicle interface is one of the most important connected services. Using SmartDeviceLink, we can provide this service to our customers in a safe and secure manner,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, president of Toyota’s Connected Company, in a joint statement.

SmartDeviceLink offers developers an easy way to integrate their app’s functions with in-vehicle technology like vehicle display screen, steering wheel controls and voice recognition. The Consortium expects that industry-wide adoption of the SmartDeviceLink platform will give developers ‘broad scale’ and expand their app interfaces. The initial technology under SmartDeviceLink is based on Ford’s AppLink, which was released to the open source community back in February 2013. This open source project will be managed by Ford-owned Livio.