Cummins collaborates on open CV telematics architecture

Cummins Inc. has announced a collaboration with the Eclipse Foundation, Microsoft and industry partners to release a new Open Telematics Framework for commercial vehicles through the Eclipse Foundation’s Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) Working Group - a group consisting of a growing list of 38 different automotive and technology companies.

(Photo: Cummins)

“Cummins joining the Eclipse SDV Working Group and contributing to the Open Telematics Framework is exactly the type of collaboration we are looking to foster,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “We welcome their participation and view this as another exciting milestone towards building an automotive software ecosystem delivering production-ready technology the industry can use to implement the future of the connected vehicle.”

The Open Telematics Framework is being developed to allow companies to accelerate time to market and reduce costs by eliminating the customizing and reprogramming efforts that have historically burdened telematics application developers, the announcement stated. It will allow each company to write its telematics application once and deploy it to any telematics hardware running the Open Telematics Framework. It will also incorporate the latest cybersecurity capabilities.

Cummins was first introduced to the project through its relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft is working on cloud management capabilities that, when combined with the in-vehicle capabilities contributed by Cummins, will result in an open and comprehensive end-to-end solution.

“We believe our Software Defined Vehicle collaboration at The Eclipse Foundation will help simplify and accelerate the transformation of our automotive customers,” said Brian Willson, vice president, West & Midwest region, Microsoft. He added that Cummins’ experience and open-source contribution will help “lead the transformation in the commercial vehicle space.”

Sherry Aaholm, vice president and chief digital officer at Cummins, said that Cummins believes digital technologies can be advanced more effectively by removing much of the costly and time-consuming development efforts currently required to bring new telematics applications and features to market. “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,” she added.

The Open Telematics Framework is a collaboration between numerous companies in the industry, with participants not be locked into any proprietary solutions. The goal is for companies to collaborate on a solution to grow capabilities, enhancing the Open Telematics Framework to serve an even broader range of developers, OEMs and aftermarket telematics providers, the announcement said.

One such telematics provider is Saucon Technologies, which has collaborated with Cummins over the years on hardware designs, software development and integration. Bill French, CEO and founder of Saucon Technologies, said he believes the open framework “will allow the industry to provide more cost-effective solutions, in a fraction of the time, while delivering seamless connectivity and unparalleled advancements in the world of mobility.”

Another participating partner, and a founding member of the Eclipse SDV Working Group, is Bosch. Ansgar Lindwedel, director SDV Ecosystem Development ETAs, Bosch, said the company and its subsidiary ETAS, have a strong history collaborating across the commercial vehicle industry with OEM and Tier 1 partners.

“As a founding member of the Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle Working Group, we have shown our commitment to open source software solutions that can readily be implemented across industry ecosystems,” he stated. “We look forward to collaborating with Cummins and other organizations to bring this framework to the commercial vehicle segment, and appreciate Cummins’ engagement within this important open source community.”