Automakers should avoid creating closed software operating systems for their cars or face increased costs, a senior executive with chip supplier Qualcomm said.
Closed versus open operating systems is a key debate in the automotive world as manufacturers rush to develop new interfaces and connectivity to put their cars more on par with the smartphone industry.
"We do not support the vertical model where a player is doing whatever he does, but not making it available to anyone else," Enrico Salvatori, head of Qualcomm Europe, said in an interview with Automotive News Europe.
The closed, or vertical model, is more costly than an open or horizontal system that uses common elements on the hardware and software, Salvatori said. "It can create economies of scale and that reduces the bill of materials, thanks to the volume," he added.
BMW last year spoke out against automakers using closed systems. "It's a mistake when everyone develops their own operating system, that is a dead end," BMW head of development Frank Weber told Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung in September.
Weber said closed systems risk "endangering the proven supplier networks in Germany, Europe and beyond," he added as compatibility is lost.