Cummins is partnering with the Eclipse Foundation, Microsoft, and other industry partners to develop and release an open telematics software for commercial vehicles. The project, entitled the Open Telematics Framework, will allow each company to write their telematics application and then deploy their software to any hardware running the Open Telematics Framework.
“We believe there is a better way for the industry to advance digital technologies by removing much of the costly and time-consuming development efforts that most companies experience when bringing new telematics applications and features to market,” said Sherry Aaholm, vice president and chief digital officer at Cummins. "We are contributing this Open Telematics infrastructure through a non-commercial license because we believe having a common telematics environment will enable the industry to develop customer-facing applications more quickly and easily, bringing the value to our customers sooner.”
Read more: The fight for and against Right to RepairSome of the costly and time-consuming developmental efforts the Open Telematics Framework hopes to address is the effort of customizing and reprogramming telematics programs to incorporate regular updates, while also avoiding locking participants into any one proprietary solution. Additionally, the Framework will include cybersecurity programs for their users.
The Eclipse Foundation’s Software Defined vehicle (SDV) Working Group is responsible for releasing the Open Telematics Framework, while Microsoft will handle the program’s cloud management capabilities, which will combine with Cummins’ in-vehicle technology. In total, the Working Group includes 38 different automotive technology companies so far, including Saucon Technologies, Platform Science, and Bosch.
“Along with Virtual Vehicle, [the foundational network] allows OEM’s to substantially reduce the time and effort required to implement core standardized capabilities on their connected vehicles,” said Jake Fields, CTO and co-founder at Platform Science.
