The GENIVI Alliance, a US-based non-profit alliance focused on developing an open in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and connectivity software platform for the transportation industry, has launched GENIVI Vehicle Simulator (GVS), an open source project along with developer and end-user code.

The GVS project and initial source code is developed by Elements Design, a San Francisco-based graphic design company and Jaguar Land Rover Open Software Technology Center in Portland, Oregon.

It will offer an open source, extensible driving simulator that assists adopters to safely develop and test the user interface of an IVI system under simulated driving conditions.

"GENIVI Alliance noted that the new project is open to all individuals, who are willing to collaborate, contribute, or just use the software."

GENIVI Alliance executive director Steve Crumb said: “While there are multiple potential uses for the application, we believe the GVS is the most comprehensive open source vehicle simulator available today.

“Its first use is to test our new GENIVI Development Platform user interface in a virtually simulated environment, to help us identify and execute necessary design changes quickly and efficiently.”

GENIVI Alliance noted that the new project is open to all individuals, who are willing to collaborate, contribute, or just use the software.

The GVS provides a realistic driving experience such as a driver can trigger obstacle feature while driving and if he hits an obstacle in the virtually simulated environment, the event is logged as an infraction that can be reviewed after the driving session.

Infraction logging feature is used to store infractions that have occurred during the driving session. It has the ability to store a wide range of infractions, such as running stop signs, vehicles driving over double yellow lines on a single highway and collisions with terrain, other vehicles, obstacles, etc.

Infraction review feature will allow the administrator and driver can review infractions from the most recent session, with screenshots of the infraction along with pertinent vehicle data displayed and saved.