BlackBerry opens autonomous vehicle innovation centre in Ottawa suburb
BlackBerry is best known for its iconic—but ultimately doomed—popular brand of smartphones. Going forward though, it could emerge as a major player in a different kind of industry: autonomous vehicles. Today marked the opening of the company's Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC), which is located in Kanata, Ontario just outside of the Ottawa area.
The company is being touted as an apt host for such of a facility because of its reputation for providing strong mobile security. This was something that it developed mainly through phones but has smoothly transitioned to doing within the field of automotive software.
AVIC will provide a hub for engineers to advance technologies that can improve driver assistance and move toward making vehicles more safely autonomous. Many of its prototypes will be tested in the local area surrounding the centre. BlackBerry recently received approval from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to do so on Ontario roads.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance at the facility's opening ceremony. He touted its value as both a global leader in car software advancement and as a job creation tool, remarking, " This centre will create great middle-class jobs for Canadians, new opportunities for recent university graduates, and further position Canada as a global hub for innovation."
BlackBerry will also reportedly be building an autonomous concept vehicle in partnership with the University of Waterloo, PolySync, and Renesas Electronics. It has also announced that it will be working directly with Ford's Lincoln division to eventually build cars at AVIC that will be suitable for market use.