BlackBerry Opens Research Center for Self-Driving Vehicles
Canada’s BlackBerry Ltd. is opening a research center near its QNX Software Systems unit headquarters outside Ottawa, Ontario, to develop software operating systems for autonomous vehicles.
Canada’s BlackBerry Ltd. is opening a research center near its QNX Software Systems unit headquarters outside Ottawa, Ontario, to develop software operating systems for autonomous vehicles.
BlackBerry says it will spend about C$100 million ($76 million) on the center over the next few years to help position the company as a leader in the field. BlackBerry announced in September it will stop making smartphones.
The company aims to hire as many as 600 software developers to support its new focus. CEO John Chen says QNX also is looking for partners such as Google.
BlackBerry acquired QNX, which is known primarily for software used to manage vehicle infotainment devices, in 2010. Early this year CEO Chen noted that QNX platforms could similarly be developed to manage robotic car controls and services based on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity.
Bloomberg News reported two months ago that Apple Inc. had hired about two dozen QNX engineers, along with founder-CEO Dan Dodge, to help develop Apple’s operating system for self-driving vehicles. Apple also opened a local office near QNX headquarters.
RELATED CONTENT
-
On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation
Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec
-
When Automated Production Turning is the Low-Cost Option
For the right parts, or families of parts, an automated CNC turning cell is simply the least expensive way to produce high-quality parts. Here’s why.
-
Global Supply of Automotive Fasteners from a Single Source
PennEngineering offers a global supply for a wide range of fasteners for the automotive industry, including China-based facilities that manufacture standard and custom products to world-class standards of quality at lower cost.