Jaguar Land Rover to Work with BlackBerry on Software Architecture

Jaguar Land Rover has teamed up with BlackBerry to collaborate on the development of a new software architecture for the company’s future models.

BlackBerry said it would be licensing its QNX operating system and provide JLR with a team of its own engineers to work on the project. The first phase of the collaboration would involve the development of an partnership will be developing the automaker’s next-generation infotainment system, Blackberry said in a statement.

“Connected and autonomous vehicles will react and drive based on rich data,” said John Wall, general manager of BlackBerry QNX, in a statement on Thursday. “Automakers, such as Jaguar Land Rover, are realizing they need to take an active
role in defining the software architecture for their vehicles.”

To efficiently handle high-powered connected and autonomous technologies, automakers are working to consolidate the control unit structure within vehicles. This evolution is projected to take at least one product generation of development as well as technology-focused partnerships such as the latest between JLR and BlackBerry.
In January, JLR said it also would be working with Qualcomm on its next-generation infotainment system, using the chipmaker’s processing technology for its infotainment and digital clusters.