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Android Linux

BMW Is Switching Gears From Linux To Android Automotive Next Year (androidpolice.com) 54

This week, BMW confirmed that some of its future models would run on a next-gen version of its in-house operating system built on top of Android Automotive. Android Polic reports: It's a big change from previous Linux-based versions, though the company says some of its cars will stay on its legacy build. So far, the automaker has yet to confirm which of its models will get Automotive support, though work on supporting it won't begin until March of 2023.

Automotive's biggest selling point for car manufacturers is its flexibility and customization options. Outside of some built-in Google apps -- Assistant, Maps, the Play Store -- don't expect to notice these BMW cars running Android immediately. Instead, the company will almost certainly rely on a skin to make the experience feel more in line with previous vehicles, as well as that Linux-based OS the company plans to keep developing.

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BMW Is Switching Gears From Linux To Android Automotive Next Year

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Not surprising that they switch from Linux to Android (which runs the Linux kernel, but a different userland.) Android has a lot of nice things for dash design, and a lot of innate security.

    • by sk999 ( 846068 ) on Friday July 01, 2022 @06:08PM (#62666996)

      Just changing distros, it would seem.

      • Just changing distros, it would seem.

        You say that as if it's nothing. But the systemd rage made it out like changing a distro would be the end of fucking civilisation as we know it. /s

        Jokes aside the OS is not the kernel. No one using Android with the wonders of Google's locked in platform at the whim of the design choices of a single corporation ever confuses it with running Linux as an OS. Calling Android Linux is doing a huge disservice to Linux and the OSS community in general and that really needs to stop.

        This is a pretty big change: Cha

        • by mathew7 ( 863867 )

          Calling Android Linux is doing a huge disservice to Linux and the OSS community in general and that really needs to stop.

          That was already done by ommiting the GNU part in GNU/Linux. This was the main reason I actually opened this article.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's more than that, they are ditching their own shitty UI for the Android one. BMW's software is wretched and a pain to use.

        Android Automotive also has some decent UI guidelines, like physical non-touch buttons for certain functions. Hopefully they stick to them.

    • Android auto is pretty crappy, for custom GUI stuff it really adds nothing on top of Linux.

      The current single user only makes having different configurations for different drivers a real PITA.

  • How about they switch building engines out of plastic back to metal? Cracked valve covers, oil pans and radiators are no fun. Don't buy a BMW people, they are shit.
    • Yeah but you don't know that until you take off all the plastic to get at the thing you need to fix. ;)

      j/k parts be crazy $$$. It's a fashion statement, not sensible transportation.

    • This man speaks the truth. Crap in the BMW engine is always cracking. Rich people buy them because Tesla's are unavailable and old BMW's are maintenance nightmares.

      Don't take it from me, take it from the people who drive them.
      https://www.bimmerfest.com/thr... [bimmerfest.com]

      Fun to drive, less reliable as they age than other cars.

      • ..and old BMW's are maintenance nightmares.

        (raises hand in affirmation). That's why you can buy a really nice older BMW that cost $60k new for $4k now. But if you do your own work it's manageable. If you have to pay someone you'll go bankrupt.

  • Didn't BMW use MS Windows some years ago?

    • A number of places used Windows Embedded Automotive. However, being Windows CE based, it seemed to have died about a decade ago, after version 7. Ford went with QNX (an embedded, realtime UNIX), and other automakers went with other stuff.

      If I had to design an entertainment console for a car, first thing I'd be doing is focusing on security (perhaps CAN level firewalling and segmenting), then looking at something like QNX, Android, or maybe something like Wind River for a Linux distribution... something th

      • Re:Windows ... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Kernel Kurtz ( 182424 ) on Friday July 01, 2022 @06:42PM (#62667056)
        BMW has been using QNX for a long time for the important vehicle management stuff, as do many other manufacturers. For the entertainment system or other non-critical functions Apple or Android will probably be fine.

        https://www.blackberry.com/us/... [blackberry.com]
      • Why would entertainment system need real time? This does not control the engine or ABS. Maybe a "soft real time" so the music keeps playing while maps are updated...(so thread priorities would be enough).

        AFAIU Android and WRS for Linux are not real time, not sure about QNX (it was marketed as realtime back in the days).

        • They're not real-time, and they don't have ISO26262 certification so you can't use it for safety critical stuff like the idiot lights speedo, and check engine light on the dashboard.
    • by MS ( 18681 )

      addendum: as it seems, Windows CE was only used for the navigator system supplied by Siemens VDO Automotive AG, (see https://news.microsoft.com/200... [microsoft.com])

  • > in-house operating system built on top of Android Automotive

    • Android UI / Libs stack on top of Linux Kernel
    • Android Automotive on top of Android UI / Libs stack
    • BMW in-house "OS" on top Android Automotive
    • and finally some actual BMW software on top BMW in-house "OS"???

    ..Okay

    • All complex software is layered. Because humans.

      Not sure where you got all the other stuff. The article said:

      This week, BMW confirmed that some of its future models would run on a next-gen version of its in-house operating system built on top of Android Automotive

      This probably just means they are using Android auto. which involves tweaking the Android OS some as is the case for every OEM. Calling it an "in-house operating system" is a bit of a stretch. It's just marketing.

  • "Automotive's biggest selling point for car manufacturers is its flexibility and customization options. "

    Sure. Customizations that include monitization on a continuing basis.

    • I think a bigger selling point would be not having a desktop OS in the car at all. If I want comms features, just give me a dumb screen that I can cast my phone to; I don't need my car to get a copy of my address book or anything else.

      I wish I had enough pull to get funding to pitch for "a simpler car company" that didn't have more than the bare minimum computerized crap in a car. Yeah you can have motor controllers and sensor diagnostics, and whatever is required by law (ABS, rearview camera, etc.), and

      • I wish I had enough pull to get funding to pitch for "a simpler car company" that didn't have more than the bare minimum computerized crap in a car. Yeah you can have motor controllers and sensor diagnostics, and whatever is required by law (ABS, rearview camera, etc.), and probably in the radio, but that's it.

        There are certainly cars like that, but you likely can't afford any of them.

      • I wish I had enough pull to get funding to pitch for "a simpler car company" that didn't have more than the bare minimum computerized crap in a car.

        All the funding in the world won't help you start up a company that is destined to fail from the onset. *You* may want a dumb car, but the overwhelming majority of consumers don't.

        And no we shouldn't be pushing cars that promote even more stupid fuckwits fumbling with their fucking phones on the road.

        • You don't need "overwhelming majority of consumers" to want your product to be successful; you just need enough to balance the business plan. You have to get out of the mindset of "must be biggest company ever, always growing exponentially."

          I agree with fumbling with phones by the way, but people are going to do that, so give them the simplest way to do it possible. And that's not the nonsense infotainment systems we have today. My wife's car is always trying to sync her address book - why?! I can tell yo

  • Another product for Google to cancel. Except this time your car stops working instead of your chats.

  • I have a BMW X3. Its entertainment subsystem crashes on my mp3 files. All other players from the 20$ sanyo thumbdrive, to iPad, iPadMin, Memorex mp3 CD player, all windows and linux destops, all laptops, chromebooks all of them play it fine without any issues. But BMW audio will crap out on it.

    Complained loudly and they just shrugged. The mp3 file format has redundant data. Both begin/end markers and frame counts. Most old encoders do not do a thorough job, Two pass encoders can declare frame count, but s

    • "It has strange quirks like there is only one central lock/unlock to unlock all the doors. You can double click the key fob. But we dont have key fobs at hand, because they were transitioning to proximity sensing unlock. Passenger side, all doors unlock, driver side only driver door unlocks. Pain to reach in to unlock to let the passengers in."

      I wonder if this is done for some safety reason or something. I have a Corrolla hybrid that does it that same exact way, and I too thought it was odd.

      • The way the car locks and unlocks can be changed in the settings. As you mention, I assume this is a safety issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] was kidnapped and subsequently killed after he unlocked his car, and the kidnapper entered through the passenger door which was also automatically unlocked.
  • Along with that change, they are also switching from oil/electric cars to coal based ones, since they don't have enough of either of the former ones.

Those who do things in a noble spirit of self-sacrifice are to be avoided at all costs. -- N. Alexander.

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