Visteon In New Partnership, And Joint Venture In Fuel Cell Car

VAN BUREN TWP. (WWJ) -- Van Buren Township-based Visteon Corp. announced a strategic alliance Friday with Germany-based OpenSynergy, a specialist in embedded automotive systems.

It also announced that a Korean joint venture subsidiary is making parts for the world's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell car.

Visteon Electronics and OpenSynergy are joining forces to deliver standards-based infotainment solutions that bridge the gap between open-source in-vehicle information and entertainment applications and the "closed" automotive domain. The partners' first collaboration incorporates OpenSynergy's Coqos operating system in Visteon's OpenAir I1.2 infotainment platform, introducing virtualization technology in Visteon's latest range of infotainment products. Virtualization technology creates a virtual environment in which even complex operating systems can run within partitions on the same processor. The OpenAir I1.2 was first demonstrated at the 2014 International CES.

"By adopting OpenSynergy's recognized virtualization product, Visteon is offering vehicle manufacturers a safe and competitive solution to integrate the increasing array of in-vehicle infotainment features expected by today's consumer," said Christian Feltgen, global product development director at Visteon Electronics.

Visteon and OpenSynergy's software enables vehicle manufacturers to integrate Linux or Android-based infotainment functions alongside industry-compliant software by running applications independently in separate software partitions, thus eliminating risks for mutual interference. Fast boot technology ensures quick availability of critical driver information while special software drivers make it possible to share hardware resources (such as audio and video) between partitions.

OpenSynergy is a private technology software company, based in Berlin, specializing in software for embedded automotive systems.

Visteon also announced that a Korean joint venture subsidiary is supplying technology used in the world's first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, being built by Hyundai Motor Group.

Introduced in Europe last year, the vehicle -- known depending on the market as the ix35 or the Tucson -- is slated for limited distribution in the United States this spring.

The joint venture, Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp., supplied an air compressor, coolant heater, high-voltage cooling module, and the heating and air conditioning system, featuring an electric compressor, for the vehicle.

The centrifugal air compressor provides clean pressurized air to the fuel cell stack, which generates power to propel and operate the vehicle. The air compressor features a patented ball bearing design. This air compressor technology is a finalist for the 2014 Automotive News PACE Award in the product innovation category. Winners of this award will be named in April.

Halla Visteon Climate Control manufactures heating, ventilation and air conditioning products, compressors, powertrain cooling, fluid transport and electric and hybrid vehicle thermal systems. It has 35 manufacturing sites and four tech centers in 19 countries, and employs about 14,000 people. It is owned 70 percent by Visteon (NYSE: VC) and is traded on the Korea Stock Exchange. Learn more at www.hvccglobal.com.