OS Opens Up Automotive Apps

Feb. 10, 2011

Microsoft's Windows Embedded Automotive 7 is bringing connected multimedia services to cars like Nissan's Leaf and the Ford Fusion hybrid.

William G. Wong

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Nissan Leaf control console

Microsoft highlighted Windows Embedded Automotive 7 at CES 2011 (Watch Windows Embedded Automotive 7). Windows Embedded Automotive 7 is based on Windows Embedded Compact 7 that includes support for the latest Silverlight development tools.

Microsoft's automotive solutions are utilized in Ford's Sync and in cars like the Nissan Leaf (Fig. 1).

Windows Embedded Automotive 7 runs on multicore IA, ARM v7 and SH4 platforms. In addition to Silverlight, the software platform provides developers with a range of applications like Internet Explorer as well as services like calendering and address books. It also provides Microsoft Tellme speech technology including voice recognition for hand free operation with the new SMS Reply text messaging support. Support for the latest iPhone/iPod Touch Firmware 3.x support, Bluetooth 2.1 and DLNA devices is included in this release.

The Windows Embedded Automotive 7 Platform Development Kit (PDK) includes a range of board support packages (BSPs) and drivers. It also includes the next generation of Automotive System Tools (AST). These tools are designed to improve system performance and test. For example, the System Resource Sharing Tool is designed to measure memory and CPU usage.

Developers can take advantage of the Windows Embedded Automotive 7 HMI (human machine interface) bezel simulator. This simulator even provide multitouch input support.

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.