WATERLOO, ON and STUTTGART, GERMANY — BlackBerry’s QNX software division is collaborating with Germany-based ETAS, a solutions provider for the development of embedded systems, to develop and market a safety-critical platform for use in next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles, the companies announced jointly Tuesday.
The two companies will combine their assets to develop and sell a software platform and associated tools for vehicle computers and domain controllers based on the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard, said the companies’ news release. This solution will unite BlackBerry QNX’s POSIX-compliant, safety-certified, real-time operating system and Hypervisor, as well as ETAS’s expertise in functional safety and basic software based on the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard, according to the companies. It will provide a high-performance, safe and secure foundation for the development of microprocessor-based vehicle computer and domain controller electronic control units (ECUs), they explained. The solution will be compliant to the ISO26262:2018 standard, allowing use in systems up to, and including, ASIL-D (Automotive Safety Integrity Level D). BlackBerry QNX and ETAS said they will collaborate to support customers’ work with the tightly integrated solution.
According to the two companies, this software platform solution and the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard will become increasingly important to support the automotive industry’s move toward connected, autonomous, personalized and electrified mobility, as well as associated changes in electronic and electric (E/E) vehicle architectures. Powerful, microprocessor-based vehicle computers will form a decision-making layer in the next generation of automotive E/E architectures and coordinate formerly decentralized ECUs — leading to a separation of software from hardware and requiring the capability to integrate software from different sources and application domains, the companies explained.
With the establishment of this collaboration, BlackBerry QNX and ETAS say they are uniting their competencies to accelerate the support for this rapid technology change in the automotive industry. In addition, the companies say they will enable applications in the areas of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication, multimedia, and over-the-air (OTA) updates.
“With this cooperation we are striving to create the leading microprocessor-based automotive software platform supporting the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard,” said Friedhelm Pickhard, chairman of the board of management of ETAS GmbH, in the news release. Established in 1994, ETAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bosch Group.
“Collaborating with ETAS, a subsidiary of Bosch, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, will grow our leadership in software-defined vehicles, and serve as a catalyst for the automotive industry to build highly secure, connected and autonomous vehicles,” said John Wall, senior vice-president and co-head of BlackBerry QNX, in the news release. “By combining ETAS’s formidable IP [intellectual property] and technology with ours, we will accelerate the development of safe and secure next-generation vehicles.”
