BlackBerry Inks Software Deal with Ford to Develop Cars of the Future

In August this year, Ford made an announcement that it will have thousands of fully autonomous vehicles in urban car-sharing and ride-hailing fleets by 2021.

Ford has announced a partnership with BlackBerry for security code for its self-driving cars.

Google, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan hope to see autonomous vehicles on the road by 2020, and Chinese tech giant Baidu believes that it will have the technology in 2019. Ford has already invested and collaborated with four startups to enhance its research in advanced algorithms, 3D mapping, LiDAR, and radar and camera sensors.

“The next decade will be defined by automation of the automobile, and we see autonomous vehicles as having as significant an impact on society as Ford’s moving assembly line did 100 years ago,” said Mark Fields, Ford president, and CEO. “We’re dedicated to putting on the road an autonomous vehicle that can improve safety and solve social and environmental challenges for millions of people – not just those who can afford luxury vehicles.”

This new agreement signifies the shift which BlackBerry has made by moving from hardware to software. Security and mobility are critical for the connected car systems and BlackBerry has the right mix of technology and experience to offer safety-certified, and secure QNX software platform, to secure and power the connected car.

Commenting on the agreement John Chen, CEO, BlackBerry Ltd. said, “Ford is an industry leader and the opportunity to contribute our world-class technology to their products is a privilege. Ford’s expanded application of our software and services illustrates the diverse and broad value we can bring to market.”

BlackBerry’s QNX software is already been used in Ford SYNC 3 Infotainment system (and is found in 60 million cars from other carmakers). In an agreement announced today, BlackBerry will dedicate a team of engineers to work with Ford on expanding the use of the QNX Neutrino operating system, Certicom security technology, the QNX hypervisor, and QNX audio-processing software in developing the next generation of connected cars.

Autonomous vehicles in 2021 are part of Ford Smart Mobility and the company’s plan to be a leader in autonomous vehicles, as well as in connectivity, mobility, the customer experience, and data and analytics.