Automotive manufacturers now able to simplify and accelerate development timelines and reduce costs when building Android Automotive OS-based IVI systems
WATERLOO, ONTARIO – June 14, 2022 – BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced an updated version of QNX® Advanced Virtualization Frameworks (QAVF) and support for Google’s latest Android Automotive OS (AAOS) reference implementation (Trout 1.0). Already in use by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across multiple production programs, this new version of QAVF will further enable embedded automotive software developers to simplify development, accelerate time to market and reduce costs when building Android Automotive OS-based IVI systems. This new development strengthens BlackBerry's leadership position within the embedded automotive software market by providing a foundation on which safety and non-safety applications can be easily developed
QNX Advanced Virtualization Frameworks extends the functionality of the QNX® Hypervisor and the QNX® Hypervisor for Safety to support the complex sharing and abstraction of the underlying hardware in a hypervised environment for systems including digital cockpits, domain controllers and other high-performance compute applications requiring a mix of safety and non-safety functions. The QNX Hypervisor products, QAVF and Trout 1.0 together enable a rapid application development environment, while leveraging the features and advantages provided by the Android operating system
Virtualization is a fundamental requirement in current and next generation cockpit architectures. The combination of Trout 1.0, QNX Hypervisor for Safety and QNX safety certified shared device drivers simplifies the integration of Android for customers while simultaneously providing an ideal environment for developing mixed-criticality systems.
In addition to supporting Trout 1.0, QNX is extending QAVF to align with the latest VIRTIO standards and add USB management, filesystem sharing and specialized graphics sharing for mission critical environments.
The development is another significant automotive milestone for the company, whose BlackBerry QNX technology is in production programs with 45 different OEMs and 7/7 of the top Tier 1s and secures over 195 million vehicles worldwide. BlackBerry QNX is the market leader for safety-certified embedded software in automotive. Automakers and Tier 1s, including BMW, Aptiv, Bosch, Ford, GM, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen, trust BlackBerry QNX software for a broad range of safety-related systems. These include Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Digital Cockpits and Secure Data Gateways, all of which are becoming increasingly prevalent in vehicles. Furthermore, BlackBerry QNX is key to the future of the automotive industry, with design wins with 24 of the top 25 electric vehicle automakers, and providing a safe, reliable, and secure software foundation for autonomous drive vehicle systems.