Forget Phones, Blackberry Is Getting Into the Car Business

[Electronic Music]

One thing we're seeing at CES this year

is that smart cars are the new smart phones.

If you want proof of that,

we're here at Blackberry.

You probably remember them from the phones

with the grey keyboards,

now they're working on software for vehicles.

Grant, you're with Blackberry. Nice to meet you.

[Grant] Nice to meet you, absolutely.

[Jack] Can you talk us through a little bit about

what you guys are actually working on and

what you're doing.

[Grant] Sure.

[Jack] I mean, we know you for phones,

so why cars?

[Grant] Well, QNX has been in cars,

in automotives for about 20 years.

Number one market share in infotainment and telematics,

incredible success in automotive.

Blackberry and QNX coming together are going to

enable the connected car,

as well as the autonomous car of the future and

make them safe and make them secure.

[Jack] Are cars a big push for software makers?

Is this becoming an increasingly important market?

[Grant] Oh absolutely. You're seeing more and more

software in vehicles today,

you're going to see more in the future.

You're seeing automakers invest tremendously

in software.

Software is going to be the differentiation in a car.

It's going to help make cars safer,

make them more secure;

ultimately it's what you need to drive and

get us to that self-driving vehicle.

[Jack] So talk us through a little bit about

what you guys are actually working on and

what you're showing here today.

[Grant] Sure. What we're showing here is a

combination of things.

The one in the Jaguar, we've got an

integrated system that provides

an infotainment system and digital instrument cluster

that are completely separated and secure,

all being driven by the QNX platform...

[Jack] We'll jump in and have a look in a minute.

[Grant] Yeah.

[Jack] So it's a nice break from the hubbub of the show,

to close the doors

[Grant] You bet.

[Jack] On a quality car and get a bit of quiet

for a minute.

You're showing your software in a Jaguar,

so what's different about this,

why is this better?

[Grant] So, what we've done to your point,

is we've replaced the displays and whatnot

we're running our

QNX platform for infotainment and

QNX platform for instrument clusters.

What we're doing is actually consolidating these

onto one computer system.

So, normally, you would have

two ECUs--electronic control units--

one for the cluster, one for infotainment.

What we're doing is actually

combining them into one

and making use of the QNX hypervisor.

So, we can actually separate and isolate

the cluster from the digital...

[Jack] The cluster is the one in front of me.

We've got, these are some safety principle things

telling us about the car, the speed limit,

this is where your lights, your indicators,

the gear, everything would show up.

This is pretty critical screens

you'd not have go wrong.

And so these are normally built in a very robust

fairly simple way; whereas

what's happening in the middle here,

this is mass critical, right?

[Grant] Correct. Yes, exactly.

So, this would for instance, have your warning lights;

so your engine warning light and whatnot,

those are deemed safety critical elements

for your vehicle.

Your parking reverse, your neutral drive.

So this a traditional infotainment system

that's running all of our software, and whatnot.

So, we've added some things here which are interesting.

So, you can go to full screen,

for a full screen map view if you want.

You can also return...

[Grant] Exactly. You can actually go back.

You can also flip these back and forth,

so you can have the map down below and above.

You'll never see this exact user interface

in a vehicle.

This is what we provided the automakers

and the tier ones and then

they'll go and they'll customize it.

So, here's an example for a smart device link,

for instance, that we've integrated.

So, we're connecting through a handset

to make that work.

[Jack] So, I can choose my music app?

[Grant] You can, sure. Sure.

So, that's coming off of a handset and

actually through the smart device link,

connected to QNX car infotainment and

actually, obviously, completely integrated

into the vehicle.

[Jack] But again, you've got those risks

if you've got a handset plugged in,

then obviously this is where viruses,

malware, whatever else

can actually be introduced into the vehicle.

[Grant] Exactly.

[Jack] You're having to be, presumably,

very careful, but, you're firewalling that

away from the safety critical parts of the car.

[Grant] Exactly. And that's what the automakers

and the tier ones absolutely rely on us for,

is that separation, that isolation of these systems

so that malware cannot be

introduced into the vehicle.

[Jack] When will we see this on the roads?

[Grant] Soon. Very soon.

And you might see it in the form of

one large display.

You might see it in

more of a traditional format.

But we're working with automakers now

to actually make this happen

in the nextgen vehicles.

[Electronic Music And Vocalizing]