BlackBerry IVY driving the future of software-defined vehicles

Yogi SchulzAt CES 2023, BlackBerry demonstrated in-vehicle applications developed by multiple OEMs using the BlackBerry IVY platform. Blackberry is a remarkably successful Canadian turnaround story with its cybersecurity, embedded systems and automotive software product lines. BlackBerry is positioned for growth as automobiles evolve into software-defined vehicles in the years ahead.

BlackBerry IVY platform

“We are delighted to show off production-ready applications developed by our automotive partners on the BlackBerry IVY platform,” said Sarah Tatsis, Senior Vice President of IVY Platform Development at BlackBerry. “IVY can process data for all the domains in a vehicle.”

BlackBerry IVY automotive software

Photo by Kimi Lee

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BlackBerry IVY is an in-vehicle software platform that enables automakers and their partners to offer innovative applications and monetize vehicle data more effectively. Tarun Shome, Product Management Director for BlackBerry IVY, sat in a Jeep Grand Cherokee at the CES BlackBerry booth to demonstrate IVY in action. The dashboard display showed real-time vehicle data being summarized and processed to offer predictive insights on critical automotive components well before they fail. “Developing on the IVY platform significantly simplifies the work for software developers,” said Tarun Shome.

BlackBerry IVY software abstracts real-time sensor data to support processing at the edge and access cloud-managed vehicle data. Car makers and software developers benefit from the following:

  1. Quicker development times that lead to lower costs and first-to-market advantages.
  2. Data connectivity and bandwidth savings.
  3. Ability to implement the same software on a wide range of vehicle models.
  4. High performance due to the speed of the underlying BlackBerry QNX real-time operating system (RTOS).
  5. Robust security features integral to QNX and IVY.
  6. IVY is RTOS agnostic. IVY is not limited to BlackBerry QNX. It’s not specific to a single cloud service provider (CSP).
  7. Software development without any knowledge of the complexity of the underlying vehicle systems.
  8. Support for on-vehicle machine learning (ML).

BlackBerry has built an ecosystem of partners that appeals to automakers because they provide IVY-based solutions that can be implemented quickly. These partners have developed multiple applications on the IVY platform and are further developing their products. For example, PATEO, a leading Internet of Vehicles (IoV) technology service and product provider in China, alleviates consumer range anxiety with an EV battery management solution using the IVY platform.

“Automakers like cost flexibility. They can pay per vehicle for BlackBerry IVY licenses,” says Sarah Tatsis. “Alternatively, automakers can pay as you go for every API call.”

BlackBerry QNX in the cloud

BlackBerry and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are making BlackBerry QNX technology available in the cloud for the first time to developers of mission-critical embedded systems. This capability will significantly reduce the time to market for new products. Developers can leverage the cloud to streamline the development, testing, and integration of automotive AI-driven solutions for automotive-grade hardware.

QNX is the market leader for RTOS. QNX is widely used in many industries. 55+ automakers trust it. QNX runs in over 215 million vehicles. 24 of 25 top EV manufacturers use QNX.

“QNX in the cloud is reducing our developer ramp-up times significantly and achieving a development agility never experienced before,” said Yannick Hoyau, VP for Engineering and Innovation Electronic Systems at Magneti Marelli S.p.A. “We can now test our applications without having to manage hardware for MInD-Xp, our Integrated Cockpit.”

Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of information technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, the need to leverage technology opportunities, and mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy and project management.

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