Software architecture for developing in-vehicle software applications

A software architecture encoded on a computer readable medium, the software architecture for developing in-vehicle software applications for installation and execution on an in-vehicle computer system, the software architecture comprising:

• a number of vehicle application program interfaces (APIs) for accessing vehicles systems or data and for developing in-vehicle software applications, the number of vehicle APIs including a driver behavior detection API for detecting the level of driver attention load under current driving conditions, a vehicle data access API for accessing vehicle data, a driver identification API for identifying a vehicle driver, and an Internet connectivity API for providing connectivity to the Internet during vehicle usage;
• and
• a number of policy restrictions underlying the vehicle APIs for restricting the level of access to vehicle systems and data while the in-vehicle software application is being developed.