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        Microsoft revs up Windows Automotive 5.0

        lieberman | Date: Jul 12, 2005 | Comments: 1


        Microsoft took the wraps off Rev 5.0 of its Windows Automotive operating system on July 12 at the Microsoft Windows Automotive Conference 2005, held in Yokohama, Japan. Its release "marks an important step in the company's continued collaboration with the automotive industry," said Todd Warren, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Devices, Services, and eXperience group, at the event.



        Rev 5.0 brings a number of new tools to in-vehicle system design. The Automotive User Interface Toolkit (AUITK) and expanded virtual memory support, for example, "enable the creation of complex 3-D graphics and advanced navigation displays," according to Microsoft. The new rev also boasts enhanced power management and faster boot. Also new to Rev 5 is a set of "improved test modules and easy-to-use product engineering guidelines to help simplify the development process and increase reliability." See bullet list below for details.

        Initially released in 1998, Windows Automotive is now based on Windows CE 5.0 and contains all the building blocks necessary, according to Microsoft, to integrate with off-board services, "including those offering real-time traffic updates, directions to the cheapest gas in town, turn-by-turn navigation and more." Released last summer, Windows CE 5.0 targets a broad swatch of embedded applications ranging from industrial automation to consumer products, and it also forms the technology underpinning of Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform for Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Centers.

        Windows Automotive falls under the umbrella of the Microsoft Automotive Business Unit, formed in 1995 to work "collaboratively with the auto industry to deliver reliable, flexible technology designed for advanced in-car navigation, communication and infotainment systems." Rev 5.0 is a cross-cultural effort of Microsoft teams in Redmond, Wash., and Tokyo," in an effort to meet the differing needs of automotive industry worldwide."

        Current automotive device suppliers committed to Windows Automotive include Alpine Electronics, Clarion, Kenwood, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, and Tottori Sanyo Electric, developing what Microsoft calls "a broad range of solutions ranging from digital radios and hands-free kits to high-end 3-D navigation systems."

        According to Microsoft's reckoning, its technology is available today "in 27 preinstalled and 28 dealer-option/aftermarket devices from 18 world-class automakers and suppliers, including BMW, Citroen, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Volvo."

        In late April of this year, chairman Bill Gates launched a major automotive initiative at the Global Automotive Summit in Dearborn, MI. Dubbed the Peak Performance Initiative, it focuses a number of the company's "key" technologies on not just new product development and operational performance, but the supply chain, and sales and customer service, as well, to help "improve communication and collaboration across the automotive enterprise."

        The company's earlier automotive thrusts had been narrower, focused primarily on telematics, including collaborations with Fiat and other manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, ScanSoft, Siemens, SiRF, Xilinx, and Magneti Marelli to develop telematics platforms.

        Windows Automotive 5.0 Features

        Among the features Microsoft claims for Rev 5.0 of Windows Automotive are . . .
        • Better, faster user interface development -- a new Automotive User Interface Toolkit connects to the core application program to facilitate the development of a high-quality "skin" for the driver and passenger interface without requiring developers to write additional interface code. The AUITK also offers easy-to-use modification and viewer features, improved debugging, expanded custom control support, 3-D solutions, and smooth animation to speed development of a high-quality user interface.

        • Scalability from single feature to multifunctional systems -- applicable, according to the company, to be the single software platform "for an end-to-end solution, from a high-end 3-D graphic navigation system to a low-end single DIN device such as a digital radio or hands-free kit."

        • Expanded virtual memory -- up to 96 MB, to support "larger and more sophisticated applications, such as improved speech recognition, bolder graphics and 3-D navigation."

        • Expanded support for industry standards -- MIPS and SuperH CPUs, plus Bluetooth, 802.11, UPnP, USB, XML and SOAP.
        Further details on Microsoft's Windows Automotive platform area available here.


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