On March 16, 2023, in a small conference room in the Western (Chongqing) Science City, leaders of automotive operating system research and development teams from all over the country were having a heated discussion.

“The new generation of central integrated electronic and electrical architecture of European and American companies will soon be widely promoted. Once it becomes a de facto standard and a new ecology, it will be even more difficult for us to catch up…”

“This closed-source operating system has a market share of more than 50% in the automotive field, and a penetration rate of 90% in the automotive control field. This is the biggest threat to our industry…”

“These open source operating systems have rich ecological resources, we can inherit…”

“The operating system is not only the kernel, but also the tool chain and middleware. We have to consider it as a whole…”

“This open source operating system cannot pass the intermediate and advanced certification of automobile safety. This is a flaw that cannot be solved. It has to be a microkernel…”

This is2023The seminar on the next-generation intelligent networked vehicle operating system. Scholars and entrepreneurs from industrial organizations, universities, OEMs, and leading software development companies will focus on the operating system, express their views and conduct in-depth discussions.

Back to September 6, 2022, the site of the 2022 Global New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Supply Chain Innovation Conference, Nanjing. “If there is no operating system, no matter how powerful the chip is, no matter how good the car is, it will be a tall building on the beach.” Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, warned, “Fortunately, the global smart The development pattern of automobiles is uncertain, and the time window left for us is about three years, at most five years. If we want to increase our sense of urgency, I would rather use three years to build an autonomous, controllable, An open source, preferably free, operating system forms an industrial development ecology in the Chinese market.” (Excerpt from on-site speech records)

In September 2022, the China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance launched an operating system statistics. “We now have 28 car operating systems at the same time. I really didn’t expect there to be so many, and they are so similar.” Song Ke, deputy secretary-general of the China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance, looked at the statistics in his hand helplessly, “So The multi-ROM operating system not only disperses the industry’s operating system talents, but also does not help to solve the supply chain security and data security of my country’s auto industry. We need a Chinese solution with a basic operating system. To fill this gap as soon as possible, the development of the industry must It is built on the basis of self-reliance, and adheres to open source, openness, and collaborative innovation.”

“We West Zhilian (Academician Li Keqiang Workstation) invited all experts to gather in Chongqing this time, hoping that everyone can give suggestions on how to develop automotive operating systems and quickly launch Chinese solutions. A consensus can be reached today, which will be a good start for the close cooperation in the future.” Xiao Kun, an open source operating system technical expert of Western Zhilian, was the first to speak.

“We have run out of time.” You Qiang, secretary-general of the Software Branch of the China Automobile Association, spoke loudly at the “Seminar on the Next Generation of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Operating System” on March 16 (Chongqing), “China Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. has taken the first step. One step, but what we need is everyone’s concerted efforts and collaborative innovation. The development and construction of domestic automotive operating systems is a long-term and arduous task. The open source solution of the automotive operating system. Once the central integrated electronic and electrical architecture in Europe and the United States matures, our generation will miss this window and miss the historical opportunity of China’s auto industry from big to strong.”

“Open source has become a key technology to ensure the security of my country’s supply chain and ensure the security of my country’s key information infrastructure and network data. But open source is not a panacea. We can use open source to break the technological blockade and technological monopoly, but in the end we still have to use open source. Ecological advantage seeks a place for us, which requires a process, we need to face up to difficulties, and make up for our shortcomings by “gnawing hard bones” and “actively filling holes”, this process is also the process of establishing our core technological competitiveness.”

Song Ke said at the seminar, “What we just debated was the specific technical route. Everyone seems to have no objection to open source as an important way to build an automotive operating system in China. So let’s take this as today’s consensus. Pass our open source initiative in the industry. The specific technical route can be discussed in detail in the follow-up, or it can be established as multiple interest groups in the open source community at the same time, and develop in parallel. Difficult things must be done easily. Let us take action first, knowing is the beginning of action , action is the result of knowledge, and we are constantly verifying and correcting our technical route in the process of development.”

“In addition, open source is not easy. Choosing an open license agreement, open source code, and providing free download are just the beginning. Subsequent open source compliance, community operations, business model setting, business ecosystem establishment, etc., all of which require professional People participate in planning and governance. I have personally tracked and analyzed the open source strategy of the Android operating system for many years. Elimination of license conflicts, code review and refactoring, how to maintain the balance between business ecology and open source ecology (technical ecology) after the business model is set, etc. will determine whether our China solution can be successfully launched and continue to develop and change. “Song Ke added.

On March 20, 2023, after gathering feedback and suggestions from multiple parties, the content of the proposal was agreed and officially released.

Attached is the original text of the Proposal.

Proposal on Promoting Open-source, Open and Collaborative Development of Automotive Operating Systems

China chongqing

Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that,“If there is no operating system, no matter how powerful the chip is, no matter how good the car is, it will be a tall building on the beach.‘Lack of core and soul‘If this problem is not resolved, the automobile industry will not go fast or go far.The automotive operating system is a supply chain problem. It is necessary to launch a mainstream Chinese solution for the automotive operating system. The time window is roughly3-5Year.“

The new generation of centrally integrated electronic and electrical architectures of top European and American car companies will be quickly delivered to the market to form a new ecology. The winner-take-all Internet rule is also applicable in the field of intelligent networked vehicles.2024happened years ago.

Over the past two decades, China’s operating system industry has cultivated tens of thousands of technical talents, whether in the direction of microkernel or macrokernel, Chinese developers are all over them. However, in the field of automotive operating systems, cross-border technical talents are indeed very scarce.According to data from the China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance, as of2023Year2As many as 28 automotive operating systems have emerged in my country in March, with similar structures or even the same origin. In the current volatile international environment, the supply chain risks faced by my country have increased sharply, and the increasing fragmentation of the automotive operating system industry and the extreme dispersion of technical talent resources are all regrettable.

In order to reverse the passive situation, improve the efficiency of industrial collaborative innovation, and promote the healthy and orderly development of my country’s automotive operating system industry, we jointly issued an initiative to call on domestic operating system industry colleagues and automotive industry technical elites to take the construction of China’s mainstream solutions for automotive operating systems as their own responsibility. Through Open source, open and collaborative, jointly build a new ecology of automotive operating systems, effectively reduce the potential risks of related technology supply chains, and provide reliable core technical support for China’s auto industry from big to strong.

March 16, 2023

Joint Initiative Sponsors:

• Western Science City Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation Center and Academician Li Keqiang Workstation
• Software Branch of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
• China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance
• Chinese Academy of Sciences Automotive Software Innovation Center
• Beijing Open Source Innovation Committee
• Department of Computer Science, Tsinghua University
• Embedded Software Engineering Center, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Puhua Basic Software Co., Ltd.
• Guoqi Intelligent Control(chongqing)Technology Co., Ltd
• Advanced Operating System Innovation Center (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.
• Beijing Chuxin Open Source Technology Co., Ltd.
• Zhongling Zhixing (Chengdu) Technology Co., Ltd.
• China Mobile Internet of Things Co., Ltd.
• Chongqing Sailisi New Energy Vehicle Design Institute Co., Ltd.
• Guoke Foundation Stone (Chongqing) Software Co., Ltd.
• CSDNdeveloper community