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At present, QNX Software and Microsoft together account for around 75 to 80% of the car-infotainment OS market. However, questions remain about the long-term future of proprietary automotive OSes. “The automotive industry is set for a number of dramatic paradigm shifts,” said principal analyst, Gareth Owen. “The adoption of open source platforms, such as GENIVI is just one example. In this regard, the automotive industry mirrors trends in mobile.” “QNX is responding by making its car platform more open,” continued Owen. “In particular, developers can now tap into established and innovative mobile-developer eco-systems for Android, HTML5, and Qt 5 apps. With the pace of change in automotive still being quite slow, the mid-term future for QNX still looks bright. Plus QNX has the important advantage of having a tried and tested optimized solution. Hence, QNX is still an attractive solution for a risk-averse automotive industry.” Although open source software has only appeared in one high-profile application so far: the Linux-powered CUE infotainment system in the 2013 General Motors Cadillac model range, ABI Research expects that Linux and Linux GENIVI-based platforms will slowly displace Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Automotive OS in importance, despite the fact that it too has taken steps to “open-up” parts of its platform.
QNX and Windows drop in Embedded Automotive market share
ABI Research forecasts that the number of OEM-installed connected car telematics systems will increase from around 7.8 million at the end of 2012 to 46.8 million units globally by the end of 2018, with Linux/GENIVI platforms accounting for an increasing percentage of shipments during the period.
At present, QNX Software and Microsoft together account for around 75 to 80% of the car-infotainment OS market. However, questions remain about the long-term future of proprietary automotive OSes. “The automotive industry is set for a number of dramatic paradigm shifts,” said principal analyst, Gareth Owen. “The adoption of open source platforms, such as GENIVI is just one example. In this regard, the automotive industry mirrors trends in mobile.” “QNX is responding by making its car platform more open,” continued Owen. “In particular, developers can now tap into established and innovative mobile-developer eco-systems for Android, HTML5, and Qt 5 apps. With the pace of change in automotive still being quite slow, the mid-term future for QNX still looks bright. Plus QNX has the important advantage of having a tried and tested optimized solution. Hence, QNX is still an attractive solution for a risk-averse automotive industry.” Although open source software has only appeared in one high-profile application so far: the Linux-powered CUE infotainment system in the 2013 General Motors Cadillac model range, ABI Research expects that Linux and Linux GENIVI-based platforms will slowly displace Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Automotive OS in importance, despite the fact that it too has taken steps to “open-up” parts of its platform.
