Blog from June, 2020

GENIVI recently invited technical leaders from member companies (those identified in the member database) to participate in member survey to gather input about the GENIVI mission relevance, active projects, events and communication channels, and membership value.  With all that is currently going on in our world and with an understanding that the business climate and priorities of our industry have already shifted during this pandemic, GENIVI is seeking member input now more than ever.  The data collected with this survey will inform an upcoming meeting of the Board of Directors in mid-July, during which significant time will be given to strategic planning for the future of the alliance.

If you believe you have valuable input to give to GENIVI, are a representative of a member company, but did not receive an email inviting you to participate in the survey, we invite you or a colleague to participate in this data gathering activity.  The brief survey takes you through a series of questions and you can provide your input in ten minutes or less.  Please provide your input by 30 June.

If your organization is not a member of the alliance, GENIVI is also planning to gather information from non-member organizations by means of a separate survey.  This survey will be launched in July so stay tuned.

If you have questions about GENIVI membership or would like to know more about the survey, please contact Steve Crumb.

UPDATE:  Many of you have already heard the the CES 2021 show will not happen in person.  Stay tuned as GENIVI may still be involved virtually in the program during the Connect2Car program track, in collaboration with SAE.

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GENIVI received word last week that the CES 2021 show scheduled to be held early next January in Las Vegas is proceeding as planned as an in-person event.  By the organizers own admission, the show may be smaller and according to a recent email, "many of the world's leading tech brands are confirmed to showcase the latest technologies, and we will be announcing soon the tech luminaries who will speak on our CES stages."  The organizers are also introducing new program elements around "Tech Battling Pandemics" and "Digital Health".   Las Vegas recently began reopening for business and hotels are implementing comprehensive plans for health and safety.  The organizers are working closely with the Las Vegas community and event industry associations to ensure event plans follow the recommendations of public health experts and standards set by the federal, state and local governments.

As many already know, the GENIVI Showcase and Reception event has historically been one of the highlights of the CES week for the automotive industry.  Last year, nearly 1400 people attended our event and feedback was exceptionally positive.  While much has changed since last year, we believe many in the industry want and need an in-person gathering, though with essential prioritization of the health and safety of all participating.  GENIVI will carefully weigh the health and welfare of all involved prior to committing to the event.  In addition to the showcase, the Connect2Car panel series jointly presented by GENIVI and SAE is a second highlight for the automotive industry.  CEA has not yet confirmed the final program, but this very popular panel series is sure to be a continued offering of the CES program.

GENIVI has started internal discussions about its presence and activities during this next CES event.   Initial steps include reaching out to member organizations about their interest in participating in the annual showcase event held in past years at the Bellagio hotel.  GENIVI already has some commitments to sponsor and / or take a table in the showcase and we will gather all the necessary information during the next few weeks in order to make an informed decision in July.  If your organization is interested in showcasing or sponsoring the GENIVI event, please contact Mike Nunnery directly.  And stay tuned in late July for more information about the GENIVI activities during the CES 2021 week.

Many of us have experienced the joy (or should I say frustration) of moving ourselves or perhaps our parents out of a house in which an overwhelming amount of stuff has accumulated.  

Collaborative organizations, like GENIVI, that have been around a long time also accumulate a lot of "old stuff".   GENIVI members have had a rich history of delivering many valuable assets to the automotive industry.  These assets range from open source code projects (many of which are still in the github repository) to UML models of standard interfaces to briefs describing technical approaches to known problems to compliance specifications and supporting documentation for the GENIVI compliance program.  Further, artifacts of our many All Member Meetings, Technical Summits, expert group workshops and industry events have also accumulated over the 12 years GENIVI has been in operation.  

I share this for a couple of reasons.  First, not all of this "old GENIVI stuff" has lost its worth. GENIVI has made the decision to preserve these materials in our member wiki, which is different than our "public" wiki, the one you find yourself on right now.  Since GENIVI has moved to a more open model, the public wiki has become the PRIMARY source of CURRENT content and artifacts for active projects within GENIVI.  We don't want any confusion about were to find recent dialog and outputs of current GENIVI activities.  But the "old GENIVI stuff" is still available and with proper member credentials, it can be searched and mined for valuable insights.  The second reason I share this is to remind and re-energize our collaborative community to continue delivering valuable assets to the industry, as GENIVI has consistently done for 12 years.  GENIVI has continuously evolved to embrace innovation in the automotive industry resulting in active projects that are meaningful and relevant.  However, this evolution has resulted in less emphasis on past approaches, programs and outputs (many of which were valuable at the time of delivery) and the accumulation of "stuff" in our member wiki.

One of the most important programs in earlier years of the alliance was the GENIVI Compliance Program (reachable only my members with access credentials).  Automaker RFQs often requested GENIVI Compliant^(TM) solutions from their suppliers.  This resulted in an active compliance program in which GENIVI members could measure compliance of their IVI platforms against a GENIVI Platform Compliance Specification.  Those that were successful received the right to use the trademark in their marketing materials and in their RFQ responses.  This led to a rapid increase of adoption by automakers for Linux-based solutions because of a robust ecosystem of solution providers, which was exactly why the compliance program was initially established.  As we survey that same ecosystem today, it is strong and the need for continuing the compliance program has waned as many commercial vendors today offer very mature IVI solutions.  As a result, the GENIVI Board has recently agreed to discontinue the compliance program, as it was defined previously, and to focus the alliance attention on other innovations like multi-OS integration and car to cloud connectivity.

The compliance program is one of many important "old GENIVI" outputs documented in the GENIVI member wiki.  Even though the program is paused, members may still find value today in some of its artifacts and in leveraging GENIVI open source code.  For representatives of member companies, GENIVI welcomes continued usage of the GENIVI member wiki, even though many parts of it are obsolete and not kept up to date.  If your credentials have expired or you have forgotten them, you can contact the GENIVI helpdesk to get them renewed.  And for all of us, let's keep accumulating good artifacts in our current projects as the industry needs collaborative and standard approaches to the challenges faced in today's connected car.  Even if it may eventually become "old stuff", let us keep pace with the speed of technology innovation and not let the future limit our productivity today.