BlackBerry signs deal to help Ford build software for self-driving cars

PanARMENIAN.Net - BlackBerry has made a deal with Ford to produce software that could power the first generation of mass-market self-driving cars, The Verge reports.

The Canadian company announced that it was dedicating a team of engineers to help the car manufacturer incorporate a range of BlackBerry software — including its QNX Neutrino operating system, its Certicom security tech, and audio processing software — into future Ford cars.

Ford already uses BlackBerry’s QNX technology in its car infotainment systems, but the manufacturing giant had previously been paying Panasonic for the privilege, rather than BlackBerry itself. In addition to helping Ford utilize existing software, the new deal means BlackBerry can put itself at the center of Ford’s future plans for self-driving cars, helping the Canadian company in its stated aim of pivoting from a hardware company to a software one.