Development Partnership AUTOSAR to extend scope of applications to non-automotive areas

“The frequent demands of our members to extend the scope of applications show how much success AUTOSAR has had up to now,” explained Frank Kirschke-Biller, Spokesperson for AUTOSAR. “With the new regulation, the development partnership enables its members to reuse or adapt their AUTOSAR available products outside the automotive industry.”

Several Core Partners and other members of the development partnership are developing their technologies for other sectors besides the automotive industry. Until now, the AUTOSAR agreements strictly limited the license for commercial exploitation to automotive applications. Examples of these are electronic control units (ECUs) developed for the automotive industry which can easily be adapted to other industrial domains. This remarkable extension of the scope of applications will open new markets for AUTOSAR products.

AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) is a worldwide development partnership of car manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics, semiconductor and software industry. Since 2003 they have been working on the development and introduction of an open, standardized software architecture for the automotive industry. By simplifying the exchange and update options for software and hardware with the AUTOSAR approach, it forms the basis for reliably controlling the growing complexity of the electrical and electronic systems in motor vehicles. AUTOSAR also improves cost efficiency without compromising quality. The core partners of AUTOSAR are the BMW Group, Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Toyota and the Volkswagen Group. In addition to these companies, more than 160 members play an important role in the success of the partnership. Companies which join the AUTOSAR Development Partnership can use the specifications free of charge.