Editorial Notes

Dear Reader,

Linux is widely used in infotainment systems but not yet in systems that are safety critical. I recently checked in with Francis Chow, vice president and general manager for in-vehicle operating systems and edge computing at Red Hat, to get an update on their plan to safety certify its Linux in-vehicle operating system under ISO 26262. His news was very good. Red Hat is devoting 175 engineers to its automotive Linux project, who are backed by an additional 1300 Linux engineers. “The project is coming together nicely,” he said. “Red Hat's Linux OS will be ready in time to support SOPs as early as 2026.”

I asked Chow why General Motors, Mercedes and other carmakers are so keen to have a safety-certified Linux operating system. “Carmakers need a platform that is scalable and updatable. Linux platforms from Red Hat have been proven in IT, data centers and many safety- critical applications. Linux is a good fit for automotive. A lot of open-source Linux packages that are suitable for ADAS already exist. Carmakers could easily adapt, refine and differentiate those packages without having to worry about the lower-level software,” he stated.

Red Hat's safety-certified Linux in- vehicle operating system must compete with intrenched and proprietary platforms such as QNX OS for safety. But the vast talent pool of Linux engineers is another reason why carmakers want Linux operating system platforms. At Chow's suggestion I searched on LinkedIn for “QNX AI” and compared that to a LinkedIn search on “Linux AI.” QNX AI landed 1000 hits; Linux AI landed 399,000 hits. When it comes to software talent Linux has no competition.

Regards,

Paul Hansen

Editor

figure 1