Dubai: BlackBerry still remains a market leader in connected cars with its subsidiary QNX despite giving up its early lead in smartphones to Apple and Google operating systems.
The automobile industry has not only emerged as the new battleground in the smartphone wars but also the future of computing and future of the car.
Nader Henein, regional director for product security and advisory division at BlackBerry Middle East and Africa, told Gulf News that QNX operating system is deployed in 60 million vehicles on the road today.
“The technology is used by 40 automakers worldwide, including Audi, Bentley, BMW, Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, KIA, Land Rover, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Toyota,” he said.
“There are two things in cars — one we see and the other we don’t see. What you see is the infotainment systems and that is where Apple and Google are focusing on — the eyeballs and the user experience. But behind the scenes, there are small computers inside the dashboard which tell the computer to accelerate when you press the accelerator,” he said.
For its technology concept cars, BlackBerry removes the original equipment of the dashboard and replaces it with its electronics. The device is either powered by one or two Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, same as used in smartphones.
“With this, we have a capability to have a bigger screen compared to the original,” said Bernhard Kockoth, field application engineer (automobiles) at QNX Software Systems GmbH.
He said that most German cars come with embedded SIM and with WiFi hotspot facility. “Your internet experience in the car will be same as in the office or home. You can have as many apps on the screen, same as the smartphone, but it is dangerous to have too many apps while driving,” he said.
The SIM is like a chip and integrated into the system. The latest Ford Sync 3 is powered by QNX OS.
The Android runtime can run most of the Android apps on BlackBerry devices.
In Germany, Kockoth said the basic contract with Vodafone is available for €10 (Dh40.2) per month and for video streaming the rate goes higher.
“Some apps come from the car manufacturers like car diagnostic but the navigation system comes from navigation providers. The phone can be from the telecom company. The new cars, which will be shown in Las Vegas in January, will have Android Auto and Apple AirPlay,” Kockoth said.
Henein said the Jeep hack, as many would know, would not have happened with the QNX. BlackBerry is known for its security solutions and that is what “we are known for”.
“We can update anything with QNX since we’re OS agnostic,” he said.
The company is broadening its automobile offerings to include over-the-air software updates and back-end software for automated driving.
In connected cars, he said that the biggest thing is over-the-update issue. “With the over-the-air update solution from the BlackBerry IoT Platform, we can update software in cars remotely and securely,” he said.
Market research firm Business Insider forecasts a tenfold increase in connected cars sales to 69 million by 2020 from seven million cars sold globally in 2014.
Connected cars enable drivers to monitor the performance and health of their vehicles in real time, thus rendering dependence on mechanics to physically troubleshoot technical or mechanical issues in these vehicles obsolete.
Remote access to cars via smartphones or tablet devices enhances security of these vehicles and notifies owners if their vehicles have been moved unexpectedly. Connected car technology offers significant opportunities for consumers, the automotive industry and telecom industry.
“We have been working on autonomous vehicles for many years, so this is something that QNX has a tremendous amount of experience with. We build BlackBerry 10 on top of QNX. Salik is powered by QNX, most of the equipment at hospitals are powered by QNX. It does not fail and if it does fail gracefully, it recovers without disruption,” he said.
Connected cars are already a “big business”.
“It is not attractive and won’t be all over the news but it is definitely revenue generating and a success factor,” he said.
