Workers prepare the stage during BlackBerry 10 launch event in 2013. (Photo : Getty Images/Mario Tama)
BlackBerry is not as popular as before but it is taking on a new venture besides smartphones. The Canadian tech company will now open its own Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Center (AVIC) in Ontario.
There are already some Android smartphones that BlackBerry released but they are still not as popular as the other ones. Most people do not know that BlackBerry has other sources of income besides the smartphone sales.
One of those sources is its reputation as a major supplier in the automotive industry thanks to the QNX secure operating system. The new AVIC will be devoted to BlackBerry's autonomous-car software development which will pump out software for the upcoming autonomous vehicles in the near future, CNET reported.
BlackBerry already has their software inside millions of vehicles across the globe. The features include infotainment, security, communication, telematics and more. The company already has a reputation in putting out the most secure software and the new AVIC could be a testament to that.
"Autonomous vehicles require software that is extremely sophisticated and highly secure," BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in an official statement. "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."
BlackBerry's QNX will be expanded more with new technologies such as the Connected Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicle (CVAV) systems and the Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS). The AVIC will continually research and develop more secure software for autonomous vehicles around the world.
Initial tests for the new software will be done on Ford Lincoln vehicles as BlackBerry already has deals with the carmaker. Both companies are still quiet about what they are specifically working on for the autonomous vehicles.
Time will tell what BlackBerry's new AVIC will bring to the autonomous vehicles industry. Ford and BlackBerry could surprise the industry with something new in the following months or so.
Watch a review of BlackBerry's Android smartphone in the video below:
