BlackBerry Developing Operating System For Driverless Car

 Self Driving Cars  

BlackBerry is looking to enter the autonomous car market, with a project involving the development of a software powering various systems in a driverless car prototype built by Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory (VisLab) of the University of Parma.

With the global connected car market expected to grow substantially over the next 5-10 years, the fight between tech companies for a greater presence in future connected cars gets more intense, which is quite understandable, considering that cars will be one of the fastest-growing segment for manufacturers of connected smart devices and software developers in the future. This is the reason why BlackBerry, which has been having a lot of trouble in the smartphone market, is putting a lot of time and resources into the development of automotive infotainment operating systems, in an effort to remain at the forefront of the connected car race, hoping that it will help them make up for the losses in the smartphone segment.

With this system, the car will be able plan its trajectory and path, and it will get a 3D view of its surroundings, thanks to a series of laser sensors.

The Canadian company has been present in the automotive industry for a while now, with its QNX operating system, that is being used by some of the world's largest automakers as a platform for their infotainment systems, including Ford, GM, Honda, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Toyota, to name a few, providing voice recognition and navigation, among other services. Now, BlackBerry is looking to enter the autonomous car market, as well, with a project involving the development of a software powering various systems in a driverless car prototype built by Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory (VisLab) of the University of Parma.

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As BlackBerry said in a press release, its QNX Neutrino operating system will be powering mission-critical systems in an autonomous vehicle developed by the Italian laboratory. It is supposed to provide real-time traffic data and weather information, in addition to navigation, and it will be used as a base for the car's human-machine interface. With this system, the car will be able plan its trajectory and path, and it will get a 3D view of its surroundings, thanks to a series of laser sensors.

The new autonomous vehicle project has been dubbed DEEVA, and will be unveiled later this year. The car has four laser scanners and 20 cameras, that allow it to be aware of the conditions on the road at all time, detecting other vehicles, pedestrians, and other moving objects and hurdles, so that it can drive through intersections and perform various driving maneuvers without hitting another car or a pedestrian. It will be able to decide whether it needs to accelerate, slow down, or stop in a given moment, depending on traffic conditions, and avoid obstacles.

Maybe this is the first autonomous vehicle project for QNX Software Systems Limited, but VisLab, for their part, have a lot of experience with autonomous driving technology, having already developed cars that can drive themselves in an urban environment, capable of stopping at traffic lights, and approach and negotiate crosswalks in a safe manner. Alberto Broggi, president and CEO of VisLab, said that they chose QNX for this project because of its proven safety records, and due to the fact that it's a highly-reliable operating system. “Autonomous cars are the future of the automotive industry and our current project is pushing the envelope to demonstrate the capabilities of this growing trend”, he said in a statement released by BlackBerry.

By Jordan Perch Author Bio - Jordan Perch is an automotive fanatic and “safe driving” specialist. He is a writer for DMV.com, which is a collaborative community designed to help ease the stress and annoyance of “dealing with the DMV”

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