BlackBerry QNX Will Form The Core Of Delphi’s Driverless Car OS

BlackBerry and automotive technology company Delphi are teaming up to create an operating system for autonomous driving platforms for use in driverless cars.

Through the use of BlackBerry’s QNX Unix-like embedded software, which is used as a middle-ware layer in the infotainment systems of many modern vehicles, and Delphi’s software algorithms  and middle-ware, the latter company will create its Centralised Sensing Localisation and Planning (CSLP) system that car makers can use as a means to develop autonomous vehicles without creating software  from scratch.

BlackBerry’s QNX will essentially sit at the core of the operating system platform and provide the infrastructure to connect Delphi’s technology together. Delphi plans to have created the CSLP by 2019 and hopes to see in in production cars by 2021.

Car software safety

While QNX may be the backbone of many an infotainment system, Delphi selected it for the CSLP as BlackBerry’s automotive software has a reputation for robust performance and security.

“There is no safety without security,” said John Wall, general manager of BlackBerry QNX. “With cyber attacks and threats to connected vehicles on the rise, it is imperative that auto manufacturers are provided with software that is safety certified, reliable and secure.”

Having this level of security is becoming a larger concern for car makers as they add more connected tech into their vehicles; BMW had to patch a serious security flaw that could have given hackers the means to seize control of some of its cars’ systems.

The security and widespread use of QNX in the automotive world is one of the reasons BlackBerry is still ticking along, despite its move away from being a smartphone company.

Quiz: In the driving seat about connected cars?