ETAS and BlackBerry QNX announce cooperation for Software Platform based on AUTOSAR Adaptive

ETAS GmbH, a leading solutions provider for the development of embedded systems, and BlackBerry QNX, a business unit of BlackBerry Limited, announced that the companies will cooperate to jointly develop and market a safety-critical platform for use in next generation connected and autonomous vehicles.

Both 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. This solution unites 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. It will provide the high performance, safe, and secure foundation for the development of microprocessor based vehicle computer/domain controller electronic control units (ECUs). The solution will be compliant to the ISO26262:2018 standard allowing use in systems up to, and including, ASIL-D. ETAS and BlackBerry QNX will collaborate to support customers' work with the tightly integrated solution.

This software platform solution and the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard will become increasingly important to support the automotive industry moving towards connected, autonomous, personalised, and electrified mobility as well as associated changes in electronic and electric (E/E) vehicle architectures. Powerful vehicle computers based on microprocessor technology will form a decision-making layer in the next generation of automotive E/E architectures and coordinate formerly decentralized ECUs. This leads to a separation of software from hardware and requires the capability to integrate software from different sources and application domains.

With the establishment of this cooperation, ETAS and BlackBerry QNX unite their competencies to accelerate the support for this rapid technology change in the automotive industry. In addition, they will enable applications in the areas of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Vehicle to Everything communication (V2X), 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,” stated Friedhelm Pickhard, Chairman of the Board of Management of ETAS GmbH.

“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. “By combining ETAS' formidable IP and technology with ours, we will accelerate the development of safe and secure next generation vehicles.”

Bosch, as one of the leading automotive suppliers worldwide, supports this cooperation and, together with BlackBerry QNX, emphasises the need for such a software platform solution in order to satisfy automotive market and customer demands.