BlackBerry has announced the opening its of BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC) in Ottawa, ON, Canada, which was developed to accelerate the realization of connected and self-driving carsby developing software.
Specifically, according to BlackBerry, the aim is to develop production-ready software independently and in collaboration with partners in the private and public sector. As part of the initiative, BlackBerry QNX will recruit and hire local software engineers to work on ongoing and emerging engineering projects for connected and autonomous cars. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario recently approved BlackBerry QNX to test autonomous vehicles on Ontario roads as part of a pilot program. One of the first projects will be supporting this pilot as well as BlackBerry QNX's work with the University of Waterloo, PolySync, and Renesas Electronics to build an autonomous concept vehicle.
At the official unveiling of the center (pictured), John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry Limited and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered their comments.
"Autonomous vehicles require software that is extremely sophisticated and highly secure," said Chen. "Our innovation track record in mobile security and our demonstrated leadership in automotive software make us ideally suited to dominate the market for embedded intelligence in the cars of the future."
Trudeau added, “With the opening of its innovation centre in Ottawa, BlackBerry is helping to establish our country as the global leader in software and security for connected car and autonomous vehicle development," he said. "This centre will create great middle-class jobs for Canadians, new opportunities for recent university graduates, and further position Canada as a global hub for innovation."
View the press release.
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