BlackBerry QNX enters the field of autonomous driving and this time it really steps on the gas

Canada's BlackBerry will open a self-driving research centre on Monday as it seeks to stealthily enter the autonomous vehicle race and become an integral part of the auto industry's arms race.

A BlackBerry spokesman remained silent until Monday after the prime minister's office said on Sunday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would travel to Waterloo, Ontario, to attend a launch event hosted by the smartphone pioneer.

BlackBerry, once known as a phone maker, is betting its future on software and management for mobile devices, largely exiting the smartphone market to Apple and Samsung and moving into more profitable businesses. It has expanded the Ottawa plant of its QNX subsidiary, which is focused on developing advanced driver-assistance and self-driving technology.

QNX, which used software previously focused on industrialization to revamp the now-defunct BlackBerry mobile operating system, is focusing on how to synchronize embedded software with the sensors, cameras and other components needed for self-driving cars.

Although the wealthy Silicon Valley has invested heavily in the artificial intelligence and machine learning required for autonomous driving, BlackBerry, which is financially tight, is not content to play a small role and follow others like a follower.

“What QNX is doing is providing the infrastructure that allows you to build higher-level algorithms and get data from sensors in a reliable way,” said Sebastian Fischmeister, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo who has worked at QNX since 2009.

"Our role in this is to provide the software foundation for the high-performance computing platform," QNX chief John Wall said in an interview on Friday.

Late last month, BlackBerry and university research teams began successfully testing self-driving features in Ford's Lincoln vehicles on public roads in Ontario, and the company also signed a deal with the Detroit-based automaker to bring a robotaxi ride-sharing service to market by 2021.

Wall said the company was in talks with "more than one or two" other major global automakers for similar partnerships, but also warned that the hype about robot cars will take a long time to fully become reality.

QNX already powers infotainment and telematics systems in millions of cars, giving automakers the ability to choose from a variety of options for how self-driving projects at companies like Tesla, Uber, Google and others are progressing.

“If they can prove they have the whole package and the safety, they can dominate” the market for autonomous vehicle systems, said Sam Fiorani, an analyst at AutoForecast Solutions in the United States.

Risks remain, including challenges from chipmakers such as Intel, which are eyeing demand for automotive processors for future robots and may offer discounts or risk user safety by giving away their own security software to sell more hardware.

"Some companies are willing to give away a lot of money in pursuit of installed base and market share," said Chris Rommel, director of embedded technology research at VDC Research. "They are rich and can afford to lose money."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.