Two foundational products one is the real time operating system called nutino and the other is called the hypervisor that provides virtualization of CPU’s both are Microkernel based, these are deeply embedded products that are particularly suited for safety critical applications, has the highest level of safety certification for both products for automotive . medical and industrial sectors. BlackBerry has achieved ISO 26262 ACYL D and 61508 ACYL 3 which are the highest level. The products are safety certified to be used for steering, accelerating , digital cockpit, MRI scanners, medical robotics, nuclear power plants, oil and gas industries.
QNX used to be primarily in the automotive sector, and was the foundation software for infotainment systems in the past (iPod , navigation, centre screen on cars like Benz, BMW, Ford, Audi GM etc… ), infotainment and multimedia based on QNX. embedded software…
“So, what we're starting to see within a car is a consolidation of these ECUs into what we call domain controllers. And domain controllers will handle multiple functions on one module. And these domain controllers are typically high-performance compute platforms. So, when you think of these, you think of Qualcomm, Samsung, NVIDIA, things that would run in your computer or things that would run in your smartphone. And this is a sweet spot for QNX, since the QNX products run on high-performance compute platforms, not on the lower end, 8-bit and 16-bit single function ECUs.”
Small ECUs are consolidating to high performance compute platforms which is based on Software, which then requires a high performance OS which QNX is, a RTOS used in mission critical systems that demands the highest level of functional safety for systems that control steering braking acceleration, etc.. BlackBerry pedigree of security can’t be matched. When you put all these together , real time deterministic nature of the BlackBerry product, the highest level of safety certification, and highest level of security make it the obvious choice for the foundational OS of the car of the future (Autonomous and EV).
‘What differentiates BlackBerry platform is that Blackberry has a more modern operating system ,coming from a more complex world, Linux cannot match the safety pedigree and and security pedigree that BlackBerry brings.
Cars have separate systems, a digital instrument cluster has a safety requirement but informatinment does not have a safety requirement. If you put the car to reverse and if your digital instrument cluster were to indicate you were in drive there would be some very bad consequences.
Trend in automotive is to take these two separate systems that have different safety requirements and consolidate on one high performance compute platform, which is called mixed criticality systems… BlackBerry also has a hypervisor a piece of software that allows you to run any number of virtual guests on one processor , so you can bring in an Android infotainment system, and combine it with a safety certified instrument cluster and safety certified surround view system running on QNX all of these can then be running on one processor.
QNX hypervisor is safety certified to the highest level, and has the highest level of security. This allows BlackBerry to bring the systems together so the OEMS can save money$$, reducing the complexity of the hardware , by leveraging the power of the high performance hardware, and reducing the weight of the hardware, and which is much more cohesive experience in the cabin. The consolidation is happening within the whole car… Instead of having lane keep assist, blind spot detection and automatic braking as 3 separate ECUs, BlackBerry can bring them all into one. This is how you evolve towards autonomous drive in a gradual way, you keep increasing the safety systems, and then you gradually introduce people to more and more automated driving….
Governments around the world are now focusing on safety and security standards for autonomous cars, check out the link below for what is and car makers would not be able to enable autonomous drive without meeting these standards.
https://blackberry.qnx.com/en/regulations/wp-29-vehicle-cybersecurity/
The bigger players may try to build certain modules in house, but with the speed of the electrification / autonomous drive enablement that is required most will not have the time, $$$ and technical expertise to develop these modules in time… So BlackBerry having these building blocks ready will be a HUGE save for the majority of car makers.
BlackBerry is already the Android of the car and there is no stopping it now… You can’t build a safety certified and security certified car without using BlackBerry technology. Everywhere you look there are BlackBerry partnerships being announced also with BlackBerry IVY now announced where BlackBerry will give access to car data to car makers and is building a playstore of the car, which only BlackBerry can do due to how integrated their operating system has been and due to already being in 175 Million cars on the road today.
https://youtu.be/jMNepEZU9uE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_rYmUOcsvQ