The Eclipse Foundation yesterday announced an open invitation for technology leaders to help define a new working group focused specifically on the Software-Defined Vehicle.

Software-defined vehicles enable vehicle manufacturers as well as automotive suppliers to put software at the very center of vehicle development, with hardware considerations to follow. 

The aim behind the project using software-defined vehicles is to create a vendor-agnostic open-source ecosystem with a vivid, contributing community focused on building the foundation for a new era in automotive software development. 

Vehicle manufactures can use the project to focus on differentiating customer features, like mobility services and end-user experience improvements, while saving time and cost on the non-differentiating elements, like operating systems, middleware or communication protocols, according to the Eclipse Foundation. 

“We’re very excited to develop this new effort here at the Eclipse Foundation. Although we have extensive roots with the automotive community, a project of this scope and scale has never been attempted before,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “This initiative enables participants to get in at the ‘ground level” and ensure they each have an equal voice in this project.”

The working group for the project now includes Bosch, Microsoft, and other industry leaders in addition to the Eclipse Foundation.