Our customers are all VIPs, and we love nothing more than seeing them shine with industry recognition. Recently, TWICE named the OnStar 4G LTE powered by the QNX Neutrino OS to its list of Very Important Product (VIP) Award winners in the in-dash navigation multimedia receivers category.
The product builds a Wi-Fi hotspot into the vehicle so customers can stay online easily while they’re on the go. Up to seven devices, including computers, smartphones, video game consoles and tablets, can be paired to the hotspot for use any time the car is on. OnStar 4G LTE also gives customers access to the same features that OnStar is known for, including emergency assistance, security, navigation and vehicle diagnostics.
Congratulations to our customer OnStar and the rest of the TWICE VIPs! You can view the full list of categories and winners on the TWICE website.
By Megan Alink, Marketing Communications Director for Automotive
OK, so at first blush, nothing. Let me explain.
It starts with a number. A really big number. Think “40 million” — because I recently learned that that’s how many units of our QNX Acoustics for Voice product have shipped to date. Wow!
QNX Acoustics for Voice is a complete signal processing software solution for automotive voice communications, based on production-proven acoustics technology. It’s designed specifically to meet the acoustics challenges unique to the in-car environment, sets a new benchmark in hands-free quality, and, very importantly, supports the rigorous requirements of smartphone connectivity. Check out the product page for more information.
Obviously 40 million is a number worth talking about, so what’s the first thing that any marketing writer worth her salt does? She looks for an analogy to help put this impressive number into context. Number of steps it takes to go around the world? Population of California? Google comes in handy in such situations and eventually, it delivered the perfect informational nugget: Taylor Swift’s legs are reportedly insured for $40 million. What does this have to do with automotive acoustics? Well, clearly Ms. Swift’s legs are critical to her success as an entertainer, and, as anyone in the business of sound and noise knows, our acoustics engineers couldn’t make their magic — and achieve 40 million units sold — without their finely honed hearing. The conclusion is obvious. We must insure their ears for $40 million as well. All in favour?
Congratulations to everyone who has played a role in putting this ground breaking technology into the hands (and ears) of our customers, and many thanks to those customers for helping QNX achieve this amazing milestone.
With thanks to Phil Hetherington and Len Layton for the idea…
By Megan Alink, Marketing Communications Director for Automotive
How many collaborations in embedded have lasted more than three decades? Our relationship with Intel comes immediately to mind.
I’m told it all began in 1981, when the first IBM PCs ran the Intel 8088 microprocessor and the OS could be swapped out for QNX. A quick trip to your local Sears, ComputerLand or IBM Product Center, followed by an order to QNX Support, and the most reliable computer the market could offer was all yours.
The first IBM PC: 21lbs without the diskette drive and complete with a cassette player jack. Photo credit: https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_album.html
Fast forward 34 years, and QNX and Intel are still changing the technology landscape. Earlier this summer, Intel announced their plans to work with us on technologies for a variety of connected car applications, including infotainment systems, digital instrument clusters and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Right around that same time, our Andrew Poliak, global director of business development, met up with Ken Obuszewski, director of automotive marketing for Intel, at TU-Automotive Detroit, where they spoke on camera with Bill Hampton from The AutoBeat Group. The topic was, of course, the connected car, and both gentlemen made compelling comments about the future of this exciting aspect of automotive and our mutual plans to deliver:
“With the evolution of the connected car, the capabilities that you’re seeing in the vehicle are really starting to expand dramatically…QNX is a long-time leader in the automotive market, Intel – we’re one of the technology leaders making a large investment in automotive, [so] it’s very natural for us to expand our working relationship and to bring consumers great technologies going forward.” — Ken Obuszewski
“Making systems that can be upgradable and updateable even after you purchase the vehicle so that way it stays fresh and current over the life of the vehicle is really a key foundation of a software platform running in a real[ly] flexible architecture like Intel’s.” — Andrew Poliak
Check out the entire video below. Many thanks to our friends at Intel for this opportunity to talk about our shared vision.
Don’t get me wrong — QNX was no tentative newcomer on the scene. After all, we were marking almost two decades in the embedded software business. QNX OS technology was already powering mission-critical systems for credit card processing, energy generation, healthcare, mail sorting, precision manufacturing, mining, security, and warehouse automation worldwide. (Whew!) But it was time to take that reliability and flexibility to more markets, ones with needs similar to our existing customer base. Enter automotive. (And we did.)
60 million is a very big number. Obviously, we wouldn’t have reached this milestone without the support of our Tier 1 customers who build QNX into their systems every day, the 40+ automakers who choose these QNX-based systems, and our ecosystem of automotive partners who enrich our offering with their market-leading innovations. We want to thank all of these companies for the exciting and challenging opportunities they give us. Here’s to the next 60 million!
Europe, your day has come! After five years of showcasing our technology concept cars primarily in North America, we’ve bid farewell to the Mercedes CLA 45 and sent it across the pond to our colleagues in Germany. Over the coming year while the Mercedes resides in Europe, our customers — and anyone who’s just mesmerized by slick, pre-integrated automotive tech — will have a chance to check the car out at a number of public events. (Stay tuned to www.qnx.com for more details as these events arise.)
Witness the unboxing:
The CLA 45 emerges into the light at Bremerhaven.
On land and settling in nicely.
So beautiful! We can't wait for a whole new continent to see it for themselves.
Interested in a sneak peek at the inside of this gorgeous vehicle? Read this blog from Lynn Gayowski, or get up close and personal with the digital instrument cluster in this one from Paul Leroux. For more photos, see our Flickr album.
By Megan Alink, Director of Marketing Communications for Automotive
The folks over at TU-Automotive announced their awards finalists today, and what a day it has turned out to be! QNX Software Systems has been declared a finalist in two categories:
TU-Automotive Influencer of the Year: Andrew Poliak, Global Business Development Director, QNX Software Systems
Best Mobility Solution Industry Newcomer: QNX Software Systems for the QNX Wireless Framework
Andrew Poliak
A 15-year veteran of QNX, Andrew Poliak is one of the leading experts in the automotive software industry and a trusted advisor and spokesperson for media and analysts on trends and issues, including in the areas of safety, security, ADAS, infotainment, instrument clusters, mobile connectivity, and telematics. On a daily basis, Andrew works with automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers around the world to help bring new infotainment systems to market. His work has paved the way to our recent achievement of >50% market share in automotive infotainment. You can follow Andrew on Twitter here and read some of his latest thoughts on automotive trends here, here, and here.
The QNX Wireless Framework was developed by a team of mobile wireless experts with hundreds of person-years of experience building advanced, carrier-grade mobile products. The platform helps automotive OEMs enrich the driving experience by adding cellular and Wi-Fi technologies to enable over-the-air updates, deliver access to cloud-based services such as maps, navigation, and voice recognition, and address new regulatory requirements including eCall (Europe), Simrav (Brazil), and GLONASS (Russia). Read more about the QNX Wireless Framework here or check out our webinar.
You can find the complete list of categories and finalists on the TU-Automotive site. Congratulations to all the other finalists, and we’ll see you at the awards dinner!
By Megan Alink, Director of Marketing Communications for Automotive
Recently, my colleagues Paul Leroux and Matt Young showed off a shiny new infographic that enlightens readers to the many ways they encounter QNX-based systems in daily life (here and here). After three-and-a-half decades in business we’ve certainly been around the block a time or two, and you might think things are getting a bit stale. As the infographic shows, that couldn’t be further from the truth here at QNX. From up in the stars to down on the roads; in planes, trains, and automobiles (and boats too); whether you’re mailing a letter or crafting a BBM on your BlackBerry smartphone, the number and breadth of applications in which our customers deploy QNX technology is simply astounding.
For those who like some sound with their pictures, we also made a video to drive home the point that, wherever you are and whatever you do, chances are you’ll encounter a little QNX. Check it out:
By Megan Alink, Director of Marketing Communications for Automotive
It’s a fact — a person simply can’t be in two places at one time. I can’t, you can’t, and the demo team at QNX can’t (especially when they’re brainstorming exciting showcase projects for 2016… but that’s another blog. Note to self.) So what’s a QNX-loving, software-admiring, car aficionado to do when he or she has lost touch and wants to see the latest on the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment? Video, my friends.
One of the latest additions to our QNX Cam YouTube channel is an update to a video made just over two and a half years ago, in which my colleague, Sheridan Ethier, took viewers on a feature-by-feature walkthrough of the QNX CAR Platform. Now, Sheridan’s back for another tour, so sit back and enjoy a good, old-fashioned catch-up with what’s been going on with our flagship automotive product (with time references, just in case you’re in a bit of a hurry).
Sheridan Ethier hits the road in the QNX reference vehicle based on a modified Jeep Wrangler, running the latest QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment.
We kick things off with a look at one of the most popular elements of an infotainment system — multimedia. Starting around the 01:30 mark, Sheridan shows how the QNX CAR Platform supports a variety of music formats and media sources, from the system’s own multimedia player to a brought-in device. And when your passenger is agitating to switch from the CCR playlist on your MP3 device to Meghan Trainor on her USB music collection, the platform’s fast detection and sync time means you’ll barely miss a head-bob.
The QNX CAR Platform’s native multimedia player — the “juke box” — is just one of many options for enjoying your music.
About five minutes in, we take a look at how the QNX CAR Platform implements voice recognition. Whether you’re seeking out a hot latté, navigating to the nearest airport, or calling a co-worker to say you’ll be a few minutes late, the QNX CAR Platform lets you do what you want to do while doing what you need to do — keeping your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. Don’t miss a look at concurrency (previously discussed here by Paul Leroux) during this segment, when Sheridan runs the results of his voice commands (multimedia, navigation, and a hands-free call) smoothly at the same time.
Using voice recognition, users can navigate to a destination by address or point of interest description (such as an airport).
At eight minutes, Sheridan tells us about one of the best examples of the flexibility of the QNX CAR Platform — its support for application environments, including native C/C++, Qt, HTML5, and APK for running Android applications. The platform’s audio management capability makes a cameo appearance when Sheridan switches between the native multimedia player and the Pandora HTML5 app.
Pandora is just one of the HTML5 applications supported by the QNX CAR Platform.
As Sheridan tells us (at approximately 12:00), the ability to project smartphone screens and applications into the vehicle is an important trend in automotive. With technologies like MirrorLink, users can access nearly all of the applications available on their smartphone right from the head unit.
Projection technologies like MirrorLink allow automakers to select which applications will be delivered to the vehicle’s head unit from the user’s connected smartphone.
Finally, we take a look at two interesting features that differentiate the QNX CAR Platform — last mode persistence (e.g. when the song you were listening to when you turned the car off starts up at the same point when you turn the car back on) and fastboot (which, in the case of QNX CAR, can bring your backup camera to life in 0.8 seconds, far less than the NHTSA-mandated 2 seconds). These features work hand-in-hand to ensure a safer, more enjoyable, more responsive driving experience.
Fastboot in 0.8 seconds means that when you’re ready to reverse, your car is ready to show you the way.
Interested in learning more about the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment? Check out Paul Leroux’s blog on the architecture of this sophisticated piece of software. To see QNX CAR in action, read Tina Jeffrey’s blog, in which she talks about how the platform was implemented in the reimagined QNX reference vehicle for CES 2015.
