The Open AD Kit is a reference framework for developing Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) solutions for commercial autonomous driving. Autoware’s description of the Open AD Kit’s initial release is similarly dense that states:
“The initial release of the Open AD Kit includes cloud and edge solutions from ADLINK, Arm, AutoCore, AWS, SUSE, and Tier IV, as well as the implementation of Autoware supporting the containerized microservices architecture.”
That implies that a wide range of organisations, from tech schools and universities to race teams and OEMs, are incorporating Autoware’s AI into their ADAS development projects. Because it’s open source, any gains or enhancements made by one party can benefit everyone else.
By establishing a collaboration with the AI experts at Autoware Foundation, the Foxconn-backed MIH “open source” EV platform initiative took significant advances toward being able to offer a complete, modern car solution. The move will aid in the development of a platform-wide integrated ADAS solution.
Autoware Foundation’s open source AI platform, founded in 2015 by Shinpei Kato of Nagoya University, is supported by one of the largest autonomous driving open source communities, with 2,300 stars on GitHub and over 500 accounts (claimed) on Slack.
LG, Toyota (via TRI-AD, a research organisation focusing on autonomous driving), Tata, TomTom, ARM, Apex.ai, and the US Department of Transportation are among the larger names involved. There are also a number of other ride-hailing, robotaxi, and autonomous bus firms participating, all of which appear to be more focused on “mobility as a service” goods rather than anything like “Level 5 autonomy.”
“To enable developers to innovate and create great user experiences and applications, we must work towards a Software-Defined Vehicles future by fulfilling the Open EV Platform vision,” stated Jack Cheng, CEO of MIH Consortium. ” MIH is excited to collaborate with the Autoware Foundation in the field of self-driving cars.”
“MIH will define the requirements for automotive grade AD solutions, and when automotive grade solutions based on Open AD Kit become available, they will be integrated into the AD/ADAS of the MIH Open EV Platform,” Autoware founder Shinpei Kato said.
