After transforming into an AI company, Ideal delivered its first report card

Ideal Auto hopes to become a world-leading artificial intelligence company, which means Ideal needs to accomplish a lot. The latest development is that Li Xiang, chairman of Ideal Auto, announced at the Zhongguancun Forum on March 27 that it will open source its self-developed automotive operating system "Ring OS" at the end of April, and jointly build an operating system ecosystem with more auto brands and upstream and downstream manufacturers in the industry chain.

Last Friday, Xie Yan, CTO of Ideal Auto and head of the system and computing group, attended a small-scale media communication meeting at Ideal's Beijing R&D headquarters. He communicated with more than a dozen organizations including us for about two hours, focusing on the concept and future development direction of StarRing OS open source. This was Xie Yan's first public appearance in two and a half years. The open source of the operating system is the first report card submitted by Ideal since it announced its transformation into an AI company in December last year.

Similar to what Li Xiang said before, Xie Yan also told us that the direct motivation for Ideal's self-developed automotive operating system was the global automotive chip shortage a few years ago. From 2020 to 2022, the epidemic caused a global shortage of automotive chips, and many international auto brands were affected: the BMW 3 Series cancelled the HUD head-up display configuration in the German market; Volkswagen's two German electric vehicle production lines were temporarily suspended; Tesla temporarily cancelled the USB ports of some new Model 3/Y cars. According to IHS Markit, a US market analysis agency, in 2021, when the chip shortage was the most serious, the global automotive industry reduced production by more than 6.3 million vehicles.

At that time, Ideal ONE's monthly sales exceeded 10,000, but according to Li Xiang's later statement, "As a start-up, Ideal is at a disadvantage in the distribution of the chip supply chain, and the chips it can get are very limited." Xie Yan said that even if Ideal could get the chips, the price it would have to pay would probably be very high. At that time, the Bosch ESP chip, which originally cost 13 yuan per piece, rose to 4,000 yuan in the second-hand market.

Xie Yan also said that if Ideal wanted to replace the short-supply MCU chips at that time, the adaptation and verification cycle of the operating system and the new chip would be more than six months. If remedial measures were not taken in time, the revenue loss would even exceed 10 billion yuan.

At that time, many automakers, including Ideal, were using automotive operating systems based on the AUTOSAR standard. AUTOSAR (Automotive Open System Architecture) is a development partnership for organizations in the automotive industry, jointly established in July 2003 by BMW, Bosch, Continental, Daimler and other automotive industry chain companies.

In order to cope with the chip shortage, one of Tesla's key practices is to rewrite the software code so that cars can use other types of chips instead of the original chips. Ideal also uses software to solve hardware problems, but it is bigger and starts from scratch to build an in-vehicle operating system. Last year, StarRing OS was first installed in the car. Li Xiang said that due to the decoupling of software and hardware, Ideal can complete the adaptation and verification of the new chip within four weeks, saving up to five months compared to before. It is reported that Ideal has invested a research and development team of more than 200 people and more than 1 billion yuan in research and development expenses in this project.

Ideal StarRing OS consists of four parts: intelligent vehicle control system, intelligent driving system, communication middleware and information security system, which can be compared to the cerebellum, brain, nervous system and immune system of human beings respectively. According to the plan, Ideal will complete the initial open source of StarRing OS in three stages, and gradually open the codes of secure real-time RTOS, communication bus-Lite, intelligent vehicle control and intelligent driving operating system to the whole industry.

Zhang Xiaoxian, deputy general manager and director of the Strategic Research Institute of Puhua Basic Software, a domestic operating system solution provider, told us that in the era of artificial intelligence, automotive operating systems are facing unprecedented new scenarios and technical requirements, and the architecture will undergo major changes: AI-oriented architecture will emerge, which may be partial and auxiliary in the early stage, and may become dominant in the future.

Xie Yan believes that Ideal is expected to build a new AI operating system for the entire vehicle through research and development cooperation with other manufacturers, thereby creating a software infrastructure for the next generation of smart electric vehicles.

After the StarRing OS is open sourced, can it attract enough car companies and parts suppliers to participate? In response, Xie Yan said that the suppliers he contacted were very excited and believed that "opening up a good operating system is a good thing for suppliers." As for the acceptance of car companies, it remains to be further observed. It will be gradually clarified only after all parties see the actual system and instructions, and actually develop and use it.

The following is a transcript of the Q&A session of the communication meeting, with some content edited.

Question : There are already several companies that have developed their own automotive operating systems. After Ideal announced its open source technology, have other companies contacted it? How is the industry's acceptance?

Xie Yan : After we announced the open source, the industry paid a lot of attention, but we did not announce the details, and many people wanted to know the details. As we release the white paper and code, people will see the actual system and instructions, and then they will actually develop and use it. Only then can we know the industry's acceptance.

People are also concerned about the way to open source, whether the use of Ideal Star Ring OS will be controlled, etc. We will use the permissive Apache License (Note: a free software license issued by the Apache Software Foundation). As an industry contributor, Ideal will open source the code and technical documents, not charge fees for open source, not interfere with the use of the code, and not control the user's data.

DeepSeek is a good example. They open up their authority and allow users to deploy services without paying any fees. They also do not interfere with or control users. We will do the same.

Question : From the basic logic of business, if Ideal Auto uses such a good thing itself, it will be better for enhancing its competitiveness. Why let others "copy" it?

Xie Yan : The automotive operating system is a very complex concept, including vehicle control, intelligent driving, and vehicle communication systems. The system is connected to various applications, and the hardware under the system is connected to various suppliers. It is very slow for a single company to do it. If the industry wants to move to the next era, realize the leap from Smart System to Intelligent System, and realize the blueprint for the future, it is necessary to open source the system and allow more people to join. Only then can we move better, more steadily, and faster.

For example, if we tell a chip company that we need to add an IP (intellectual property design patent) to the ECU (controller) for better security, the chip company will not be willing to do it if we do not open source the system. Only when the system is open will the chip company believe that this change can not only be used by Ideal, but also by other manufacturers, so the chip company is more willing to do this.

There is no absolute leading edge in technology, and no absolute moat. Even if we have always been closed source, others will come up with a car operating system. For example, iOS has always been closed source, but Google soon made Android and opened it up. I used to work on many mobile operating systems, and I found that it is difficult to lead in technology for a long time, especially the underlying technology, so we have to keep moving forward. We hope to move forward faster with like-minded people. The faster we run, the more valuable we will be.

Question : So we need to get more suppliers to join?

Xie Yan : Suppliers and car companies. The more car companies use Ideal Star Ring OS, the more suppliers will actively embrace it. This story is happening in the mobile phone industry. For example, after Android was released, many mobile phone manufacturers were using it, so hardware manufacturers including Qualcomm were actively embracing it. This is resonance. The operating system is like an agreement, just like everyone follows the WTO agreement to trade. The more people join, the faster the operating system will develop.

Everyone can see the future direction of progress in this set of protocols, just like looking at a common blueprint and moving forward.

Question : From your perspective, what are the problems with AUTOSAR?

Xie Yan : AUTOSAR is a system built in the last era. It is very compatible with the automotive technology needed in the last era. However, the software and hardware iteration speed is very fast now, and it needs to be higher performance, more flexible and efficient. AUTOSAR is not doing enough in this regard. We did not develop our own system for the sake of developing our own system. In fact, we decided to develop our own system because we found some problems and there was no solution in the industry that could directly solve them, so we chose to do it ourselves. If there is a good solution in the industry, we are willing to use it if the price is right.

Question : In terms of business model, what are Ideal StarRing OS's thoughts? Have you considered the return on investment?

Xie Yan : We do not expect to get direct returns through open source. We neither sell car operating systems nor interfere with how users use them. We just hope that everyone will join us, use them freely, contribute freely, and move forward on the same route as Ideal. In this way, we can move fast enough and finally realize the vision of building an Intelligent system.

The business model of Ideal Ring OS is different from that of Google, because Google is a service provider, and after it is open source, it requires Android manufacturers to install its services and obtain commercial returns from them. But Ideal is not like this, we just hope to realize our vision faster and better together with suppliers and friendly companies.

Question : Is there a specific model, such as providing services?

Xie Yan : No, we do not get direct commercial returns from open source.

Open source is just a starting point. If an Intelligent System, whether it is a car or a space robot, wants to move forward, it requires a lot of coordination between software and hardware. So we hope that through open source, we can move forward together. This requires the collaboration of many people, so that everyone can see a blueprint for the future.

Android actually did this in smartphones at the time, but everyone was a little confused about how to move forward in the automotive field and what kind of functions we should provide. With Ideal Ring OS, everyone can see the future direction in this blueprint or this set of protocols. Once everyone reaches a consensus on the prospects, they can invest in research and development without hesitation, without worrying that no one will use the hardware or software after the investment. This is the great value of the open source operating system.

Question : What is the schedule for the subsequent deployment of Ideal StarRing OS in cars?

Xie Yan : All the models we will release next will be equipped with Ideal StarRing OS, and some components have been used in previous models. Ideal StarRing OS does not only involve a single hardware, as a system, it involves many controllers, so some technologies can be used separately.

Question : Can past car models complete some technical upgrades through OTA?

Xie Yan : Yes, we will upgrade some available technologies through OTA.

Question : What are the benefits for users? Will it be reflected in the reduction of vehicle prices? Can users feel that there are obvious differences between Ideal Star Ring OS and other operating systems?

Xie Yan : StarRing OS is a low-level system that does not directly serve users. It may not be appropriate to compare it with Android, because Android and Windows are user operating systems. If we compare a car to a robot, then the StarRing OS system is equivalent to a low-level brain, cerebellum and neural network system inside a robot. It does not directly provide services to you, but serves the capabilities supported by the bottom layer.

To be more direct, everyone can feel that Ideal Auto's update speed is very fast. From intelligent driving to cockpit, the system has become smarter, so the next iteration will be faster. If a system is better, hardware upgrades will also become easier. For example, a user buys a car and hopes to use it for ten years, but today's technology is developing so fast, he will worry about whether the car will lag behind in a few years. If the operating system is good enough, not only the software can be updated, but the hardware may also be updated in the future. To achieve this goal, some innovations need to be made at the bottom layer, so we are supporting these iteration speeds, security, and efficiency.

Question : If StarRing OS is popularized successfully, but manufacturers add a lot of their own functions and services, when they don't do well, will users say that StarRing OS is slow, stupid, and dumb, rather than a problem with the manufacturer's ability? Have you signed some kind of limited agreement with other manufacturers, such as not being able to make too many changes to the current system?

Xie Yan : We will not prevent users from making any modifications. Just like DeepSeek, there is no restriction on any modifications. There is a lot of room for StarRing OS to move forward. We should seek truth from facts when making products. If it is not done well and it is our fault, then we will make changes; if it is not our fault, it will be clarified slowly.

Question : Ideally, we hope to build together with the industry. Which roles in which fields do you most hope to join?

Xie Yan : We welcome all automakers and suppliers to use it and contribute together. There are some issues in the industry that we need to solve together, such as real-time performance and security. The more people use Ideal StarRing OS, the lower the cost, so there is no ranking, and even companies outside the automotive field are welcome to use it.

Question : There is no ranking, is there a priority?

Xie Yan : There is no priority. Ideal StarRing OS is a comprehensive and large automotive operating system, involving general computing, AI computing, Ethernet, hardware abstraction layer, etc., and above that, multimedia, cameras, etc., all of which are related. It does not mean that we need all modules to be complete, we can flexibly choose according to our needs, and it can work well.

Question : If a car company imports Ideal Star Ring OS into their platform and models, what do they need to do? Can Ideal give some specific guidance? Some car companies may worry that although Ideal Star Ring OS is open source, it does not provide technical support and they will not use it.

Xie Yan : This is what we need to do well. First, we will have white papers and technical documents; second, when we launch Ideal Star Ring OS, we will cooperate with more active chip companies whose hardware can be directly adapted to Ideal Star Ring OS, so we can directly download the operating system to a certain development board and use it.

Question : Will Ideal have a customer service team to provide support?

Xie Yan : We will not have a customer service team. We are a community model. We will not take anyone's job. Tier 1 manufacturers can choose to use Ideal Star Ring OS to build their own systems and serve their customers. We will not charge fees for open-source Ideal Star Ring OS.

Question : Why are existing open source operating systems not widely used in the industry?

Xie Yan : There is currently no ideal complete automotive operating system like Ring OS in the industry that can cover vehicle control and intelligent driving.

Question : Other industries also have open source operating systems, but they are not used much.

Xie Yan : Because systems from other industries are not necessarily suitable for smart cars, they may not be easy to use if they are directly used.

Question : What’s the reason why it doesn’t work well?

Xie Yan : There are two reasons. First, the system itself does not solve the core problem. Some open source projects just reinvent the wheel, without solving too many problems and creating value. Second, the system may be outdated and does not solve problems for the future.

Question : When did Ideal decide to open source its operating system?

Xie Yan : From the first day we worked on Ideal Ring OS, we discussed whether we could open source it if we did a good job. For engineers, we hope to get more recognition for things we do well. Of course, this is a technical idea and has nothing to do with business. This rough idea in the early days was just on our lips, but later we knew more and more about what the next stage of the automotive operating system should look like, and we also felt that the industry needed such an operating system. Therefore, we open sourced Ideal Ring OS, hoping to gain everyone's recognition on the one hand, and to help the industry on the other hand, so that everyone can see and realize the vision of the next stage together.

Question : After the in-vehicle operating system becomes open source, if capable car companies do not use it, then who will use it?

Xie Yan : This is indeed not an easy task, and no one has done it before. To accomplish something, you need "the right time, the right place, and the right people". Before, the "right time" was not there. In the previous stage, everyone was fragmented and separated, and there were no such needs. If you want to make a function, you just need to find a place to add it. But as the car changes from a Smart system to an Intelligent system, it requires more system centralization, and these problems need to be solved in both hardware and software. If there is no good solution today, everyone will solve it by themselves, but now there is a better solution, and everyone can use it. There was no unified consensus before, but I think there may be some consensus as we go forward, which is what we call everyone seeing the same picture.

For capable competitors, being able to refer to this system is also valuable. Some people may think that the open source system has no value for Ideal Auto, but in fact it does. If we see some functions or some directions to solve problems, put them in the open source code, and influence other car companies through the code, everyone will go in the same direction, and the industry will go in this direction. More people will see a consensus and then slowly focus on it.

We don't expect that the open source will be used in its entirety on the first day, although this is our highest goal. If a Tier 1 vendor thinks this is good and uses it in its entirety, we welcome it very much, and we can all spend time together to discuss it. If it is only used partially, I think it is also valuable.

Question : Has Ideal conducted research with suppliers on open source? 

Xie Yan : From the feedback I know from suppliers, everyone is very excited and thinks it is a good thing. Once a good system is opened, it is a good thing for suppliers.

Question : Can this operating system be expanded to other types of robots? 

Xie Yan : We have not yet developed an operating system directly for robots, but I think there are many common problems to be solved. For example, robots and cars both require the brain, cerebellum, and nervous system to work together efficiently to complete tasks in real time and deterministically. As for whether the existing Ideal Star Ring OS can be used directly as a robot operating system, this may depend on the user's own preferences and capabilities.

Question : After the StarRing OS is open sourced, will the ownership of the operating data belong to the user, Ideal, or other companies using it? Will other companies participate in the subsequent updates of StarRing OS? 

Xie Yan : The user data after open source has nothing to do with us. This is a system that everyone can use, similar to Linux or AOSP. How users use it is actually not a concern, so we cannot control this data, and we don’t want to control it.

We hope to build an operating system community where everyone can discuss subsequent versions together, such as whether to add new features or meet the needs of certain functions. The open source community of Ideal Star Ring OS operates in a very similar way to other open source communities. The more contributions you make, the more likely you are to have the right to discuss and decide the future development direction of Ideal Star Ring OS.

Question : In the process of promoting the open source of StarRing OS and building an ecosystem, what are the biggest challenges that Ideal can foresee? What are the measures to deal with it?

Xie Yan : The challenge is how to make our system accepted and applied by everyone. For us, this is the only way to measure it. The more people join, the better the system is and the better the open source approach is.

It is not easy to achieve this goal, and no one has done it before. In addition to being difficult to do, there is also the problem of "time". Every time a new thing comes out, there are some opportunities for change. If the automotive industry stays in the era of fuel vehicles, or the era of simple intelligence and networking, and only needs to meet the needs of users to listen to music online, then there is no need to change anything.

Question : The automotive industry is relatively unfamiliar with the open source community. What is the governance structure of Ideal StarRing OS?

Xie Yan : The governance structure is the same as that of a regular open source community: we envision a committee with active members joining to jointly develop versions and contribute; there are some maintainers responsible for reviewing the code to ensure that each version is available. Although the automotive industry is relatively unfamiliar with open source, many automotive engineers are actually software engineers and hardware engineers, and are not unfamiliar with open source.

Question : If the roles were reversed and Ideal were to choose an open source car operating system, what would it look at?

Xie Yan : There are three conditions:

First, it can solve the problems we want to solve. We can see the same vision or future, which is the first source of motivation.

Second, does Ideal have autonomy? If other car operating systems are delivered as black boxes, we cannot see any code and cannot modify them. Even if we do not necessarily need to modify them, the code and solutions must be open and transparent.

Third, will there be any restrictions on commercial use? For example, some open source projects can only be used for learning. If they are used for commercial purposes, they must be paid for, which is not true open source.

So, we considered these three aspects. We don’t want to charge any fees, nor do we want to restrict anyone from using it.

Title image source: Ideal Auto

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