November 18, 2013 – CSR ( http://www.csr.com ), a global provider of innovative semiconductor ICs and software solutions in the fields of location awareness, multimedia, and cloud connectivity, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Mentor Graphics, a world leader in Electronics Design Automation (EDA). Through this, the company stated that it will be able to provide more opportunities for creative product design to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) considering the development of automotive wireless connectivity.

Through this partnership, we plan to integrate CSR Synergy® software with Mentor Graphics’ GENIVI Linux-based Automotive Technology Platform (ATP) to provide optimal software solutions for developing products with Bluetooth®, Bluetooth Smart, and Wi-Fi®.

Based on this integrated technology, the two companies will provide a powerful automotive-grade platform for developing in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) solutions. This enables in-vehicle internet connectivity, allowing for smartphone tethering via MirrorLink, Wi-Fi hotspot support, broadband hands-free calling, and CD-quality Bluetooth streaming support via aptX® technology. Additionally, it enables the implementation of Bluetooth Smart-based features, which are increasingly being used in fields such as keyless entry and temperature and tire pressure monitoring systems.

CSR and Mentor Graphics expect that this collaboration will enable OEMs to significantly reduce product development time, allowing them to design more creative products and invest more effort and time into differentiating features.

Since its initial market launch in 2004, CSR’s Synergy Software has been used by several major companies for the development of infotainment and telematics platforms and is known as the most widely used connectivity software solution in the relevant market. It has been continuously updated to support the latest Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart, and Wi-Fi, and regularly conducts high-level testing to ensure compatibility with the latest smartphones. .

Thomas Carmody, Head of Automotive Connectivity Marketing at CSR, stated, “Consumers want automotive wireless connectivity to connect with all types of devices they own,” adding, “Furthermore, as new applications for wireless connectivity continue to expand, specialized OEMs are under pressure to develop new products that require the rapid addition of these features.”

He continued, “CSR felt the need to collaborate with other leaders in the automotive infotainment market to reduce the burden of technical work for wireless connectivity development,” and emphasized, “As evidenced by the recent preference of automotive infotainment developers for open-source based platforms like GENIVI Linux, we expect this partnership to be of great help to our OEM customers who want to satisfy consumer needs.”

In the field of automotive infotainment systems, providing wireless connectivity features is becoming a key differentiating factor, particularly for automakers seeking innovations that differentiate them from competitors. By 2014, the global adoption rates of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are expected to reach 65% and 17%, respectively, and continuous growth is anticipated in these technology sectors.

As the integration of such connectivity features increases, it has become inevitable for automotive infotainment developers to develop solutions that support wireless connectivity across various fields of automotive technology.

CSR connectivity devices and CSR Synergy software support are solutions developed with these requirements in mind; once the solution is implemented, customers can easily add and remove connectivity technologies, Bluetooth profiles, and usage scenarios as needed without requiring any special technical development efforts.

"Both CSR and Mentor Graphics determined that OEMs needed to minimize the technical work required to further diversify and accelerate the development of automotive infotainment systems," said Scott Morrison, Team Leader of Runtime at Mentor Graphics' Embedded Systems division. "We believe that through this collaboration, we have laid the foundation for more robust infotainment development."

He added, “CSR possesses a diverse roadmap including high-performance hardware and software solutions, which will enable the expansion of existing automotive infotainment functions into telematics and ‘vehicle-to-vehicle’ or ‘vehicle-to-infrastructure’ connectivity.”