Hyundai/Kia selects Microsoft for infotainment

MUNICH; Germany — Microsoft will supply Hyundai-Kia with its Microsoft Auto system software platform for infotainment solutions. Beginning 2010, the Korean automotive OEM plans to roll out cars that have the Widows CE-based operating system inside.

Both companies signed in Seoul a long-term agreement, Microsoft informed. The presence of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group Chief Technology Officer Hyun Soon Lee brings out the significance that both parties attribute to the move. Hyundai-Kia (HKAG) plans use the Microsoft platform as core component for the development of future in-car infotainment systems.

Microsoft Auto bundles Microsoft's Windows CE embedded operating system with several protocol stacks and middleware components supporting Bluetooth-based integration of mobile phones and external media players into the built-in entertainment systems. While the platform contains some standard components, it typically is tailored to customer's needs, explained Reiner Gerczuk, Senior Customer Engineering manager for Microsoft's German subsidiary. The current version bears the number 3.0, but when HKAG will bring its first Microsoft-equipped vehicles to the American and European markets in 2010, version 4.0 will probably be available and be used by the car manufacturer.

With the decision, Hyundai-Kia joins automotive OEMs such as Fiat and Ford Motor Company which already offer Microsoft-based systems in their cars. Among the tier-one suppliers, Continental is known to build solutions based on the Microsoft platform.