Tizen Linux heads for vehicles as car makers and tech firms form workgroup

The Linux Foundation is turning its attention to vehicles with the creation of a workgroup charged with creating a reference platform that can be used for in-car systems.

The Automotive Grade Linux Workgroup, announced on Wednesday in London, counts a number of car makers and technology companies among its members, including Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, Intel and Samsung.

The workgroup, using Tizen as its reference distribution, will create an Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) reference platform, which the car industry can use for automotive systems including in-vehicle entertainment, digital dashboards, climate control and intelligent roadway instrumentation.

All work will be carried out by the group's members as part of upstream projects and then integrated back into an AGL reference distribution, according to the Linux Foundation.

The aim of the workgroup, according to Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation, is to use the Tizen OS "to create a Debian or Fedora-like project for the automotive industry. Like those community distributions, the Automotive Grade Linux Workgroup will rapidly feed cutting-edge technologies to automakers and their partners who can build Linux-based products for the newest cars".

Along with the reference platform, the workgroup will deliver a regularly updated roadmap detailing its activities and evaluation hardware platforms supported by the reference distribution.