It’s no exaggeration to say that the advent of Linux has changed the world. However, for heavily regulated industries with strict software certification standards, the biggest strengths of Linux are also what hinder its adoption.

In the automotive industry, a vehicle’s safety-related software must undergo recertification with every update. Given that Linux sees hundreds of kernel patches a year, such a requirement would normally be impossible to meet for a Linux-based OS. But under a new approach that automakers are steadily embracing, safety-related functionality that is subject to certification is separated into a distinct software layer.

One implementation of this approach was developed by German automotive vendor Elektrobit. Its solution, EB corbos Linux, is a purpose-built version of Linux based on Ubuntu that complies with the safety-related certification standards to which automotive manufacturers and vendors are subject. This approach allows both OEMs and third party application vendors to embrace the benefits of Linux without compromising certification standards.

Creative solutions such as these demonstrate that helping legacy industries fully embrace OSS is a COSS opportunity in and of itself.