SAN RAMON, Calif. – Robert Bosch is among the latest companies to join GENIVI Alliance, an automotive and consumer electronics industry association driving the development and adoption of an open In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform. Bosch joins Tata Consultancy and TomTom as new Core members.

GENIVI Alliance, headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., is a non-profit industry association whose mission is to drive the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) open source development platform. GENIVI says it will accomplish this by aligning requirements, delivering reference implementations, offering certification programs and fostering a vibrant open source IVI community. GENIVI's goal is to shorten development cycles, speed up time-to-market and reduce costs for companies developing IVI equipment and software.

As Core members of GENIVI Alliance, Bosch, Tata and TomTom will have the opportunity to participate in technical councils and working groups to help drive the technical and marketing direction of the Alliance.

Robert Bosch Car Multimedia GmbH provides intelligent solutions that allow the flexible and efficient integration of entertainment, navigation, telematics and driver assistance in the vehicle.

"Our primary goal in this Alliance is to reduce development time and minimize development costs. Furthermore we see GENIVI as an important step towards a standardization in the infotainment domain," commented Dr. Ing. Michael Bolle, senior vice president of the Automotive Navigation and Infotainment Systems business unit in the Bosch Car Multimedia division.

In addition, Alten SA, BearingPoint GmbH, BSQUARE, Galician Automotive Technology Centre (CTAG), Harman International Industries, Infobank Corporation, Intrinsyc Software International, MFORMATION Technologies, Mitac International Corporation and Vitec Co., Ltd. have joined the Alliance as Associate members bringing the total membership to nearly 100 companies spanning the entire automotive ecosystem.

"The addition of these very influential Core members, along with our new Associate members seeking next generation infotainment solutions only strengthens the Alliance," said Graham Smethurst, GENIVI president. "The continued interest of companies as prestigious as these validates the Alliances mission of reducing the cost of developing IVI devices and greatly reducing the time to bring innovative, differentiated IVI devices to the consumer market."