Blackberry Debuts Cutting-Edge Digital Cockpit Platform at CES
At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Blackberry is introducing what they claim is the world’s first digital cockpit platform. This platform promises to offer car manufacturers the in-car experience drivers desire, along with the security, safety, and reliability they need.
The QNX platform for digital cockpits allows car makers to provide a dependable and secure QNX-based digital instrument cluster and infotainment system. This system can run the newest Android-based applications, like Google Maps and Google Play Music, all from a single ECU.
Blackberry’s ISO 26262 safety-certified hypervisor ensures that different operating system environments powering the cluster, infotainment, and other driver information systems stay separate. This separation is crucial because if an app crashes, is compromised, or needs an update, it won’t affect critical driving functions.
This platform exemplifies Blackberry’s strategy of developing and selling bundled products. For instance, the QNX platform for digital cockpits combines Blackberry’s safety-certified QNX hypervisor, QNX platform for instrument clusters, QNX car platform for infotainment, and a secure Android implementation. This should help car manufacturers speed up development and cut the risk and cost of bringing projects from research to production.
“As cars integrate more ECUs, automakers need solutions that are safe, secure, and reliable while also offering a unique driving experience,” said John Wall, Senior Vice President at Blackberry. “After two years of continuous improvement and testing, we’ve created the first safety-certified digital cockpit that allows secure Android apps in the car. We believe this level of security will be a significant differentiator as consumers begin to consider security and data privacy when buying a vehicle.”
This platform was developed in partnership with Tata Elxsi, which customizes and supports Android updates for the lifetime of the vehicle. This builds on their multi-year partnership, which began in 2017 when Tata Elxsi became a value-added integrator to help companies create secure, mission-critical products using QNX technologies.
An early version of the QNX platform for digital cockpits, along with other innovations, is being showcased at CES in a 2019 Karma Revero concept car at booth 7523 in LVCC North Hall.
