Sources: Cummins Inc., Columbus, Ind.; CP staff
Cummins Inc. will work with the Eclipse Foundation, Microsoft and industry partners on a new approach to develop telematics software for commercial vehicles. The Open Telematics Framework is being designed to allow companies to accelerate time to market and reduce costs. Participants can write a telematics application once and deploy it to any hardware running the Open Telematics Framework, to incorporate the latest cybersecurity capabilities. A “write once, run anywhere approach” will eliminate what Cummins officials call complex customization and reprogramming efforts that have historically burdened telematics application developers. Participants will not be locked into any proprietary solutions, moreover, but compelled to enhance the Open Telematics Framework to serve a broad range of developers, OEMs, and aftermarket telematics providers.
“We believe there is a better way for the industry to advance digital technologies by removing much of the costly and time-consuming development efforts that most companies experience when bringing new telematics applications and features to market,” says Cummins Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Sherry Aaholm. “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 value to our customers sooner.”
Introduced to the project through its relationship with Microsoft, Cummins will be releasing the Open Telematics Framework via the Eclipse Foundation’s Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) Working Group, comprised of nearly 40 vehicle equipment and technology providers. “Cummins joining the Group and contributing to the Open Telematics Framework is exactly the type of collaboration we are looking to foster,” affirms Eclipse Foundation Executive Director Mike Milinkovich. “We view this as another milestone towards building a software ecosystem delivering production-ready technology the industry can use to implement the future of the connected vehicle.”
A combination of Microsoft-developed cloud management and Cummins in-vehicle capabilities 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,” notes Microsoft Vice President, West & Midwest Region Brian Wilson. “Cummins’ experience and open-source contribution will help the commercial vehicle space at large.”