Ford And Toyota To Set Up Consortium For Development Of In-Vehicle Apps

The non-profit organisation is named as SmartDeviceLink Consortium and the first members of the consortium are Mazda Motor Corporation, PSA Group, Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki Motor Corporation.

Elektrobit, Luxoft, and Xevo have joined the newly formed organisation as the supplier members. Harman, Panasonic, Pioneer and QNX have signed letters of intent to join.

The users can easily access the smartphone apps using voice commands and in-vehicle displays through SmartDeviceLink.

An open source platform will enable the car manufacturers and suppliers to maintain a uniform standard with which to integrate the applications. The SmartDeviceLink is based on the Ford's AppLink software developed in 2013.

Global Director, Ford Connected Vehicle and Services, Doug VanDagens said, "Encouraging innovation is at the center of Ford's decision to create SmartDeviceLink, and this consortium is a major step toward that goal."

President of Toyota's Connected Company, Shigeki Tomoyama said, "Connectivity between smartphones and the vehicle interface is one of the most important connected services. Using SmartDeviceLink, we can provide this service to our customers in a safe and secure manner."