To focus on in-car experience for smart car, the BlackBerry Limited unvelied a digital cockpit solution that it says will improve driver experience with security, safety and reliability.
The company says that its QNX Platform for digital cockpits will help automakers to offer a reliable and secure QNX-based digital instrument cluster and infotainment system that provides access to the latest Android-based applications such as Google Maps and Google Play Music all from a single ECU.
BlackBerry's QNX Platform for Digital Cockpits illustrates the company's new go-to-market strategy, which is to develop and sell vertical solutions that bundle complementary products. For example, the QNX Platform for Digital Cockpits combines BlackBerry's safety-certified QNX Hypervisor for Safety, QNX Platform for Instrument Clusters, QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment, and a secure Android implementation.
The company stressed that its hypervisor ensure that multiple operating system environments powering the cluster, infotainment, and other driver information systems do not interfere with one another. This isolation is important because if an app crashes, is compromised, or needs to be updated, it will not impact critical-driving functions.
“As the ECUs in a car consolidate, automakers are seeking safe, secure, and reliable solutions that are flexible enough to deliver a unique driving experience,” said John Wall, Senior Vice President and Co-Head of BlackBerry Technology Solutions, BlackBerry. “After two years of constant improvement and testing, we have built the world's first safety-certified digital cockpit that enables secure Android apps in the car. We believe being able to provide this level of security will be a key differentiator for automakers as consumers begin to weigh security and data privacy when purchasing a vehicle.”
BlackBerry's QNX Platform for Digital Cockpits is made possible thanks to a partnership with Tata Elxsi who provide customizations and support for Android and ensure Android updates and customizations are available for the lifetime of the vehicle, said the company. The development builds on the companies' multi-year partnership, first announced in 2017, that saw Tata Elxsi sign on with BlackBerry as a value-added integrator to help companies design and develop secure, mission-critical solutions using BlackBerry QNX technologies.
“We have been enabling the Android ecosystem for mobile, Smart TV and automotive for over 10 years with our Android Center of Excellence,” said Nitin Pai, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, Tata Elxsi. “The Tata Elxsi – BlackBerry partnership brings together two global and world-class companies to deliver a future-ready and yet secure digital cockpit platform with the quality and long-term support assurance that automakers seek from platform and solution providers.”
BlackBerry provides OEMs around the world with technology to protect hardware, software, applications, and end-to-end systems from cyberattacks. BlackBerry says its QNX technology being embedded in more than 120 million vehicles on the road today, as well as automotive design wins with Baidu, Delphi, Denso, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Visteon, Jaguar Land Rover, BYTON, and more.
