Chinese internet giant Baidu and BlackBerry has inked a new partnership to work jointly on self-driving car technology. Baidu has been very active in this space and is already working with other major players in this space on autonomous cars. Some of the other companies that Baidu has teamed up with for self-driving cars include Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, and others. The partnership will see BlackBerry’s QNX software being used as the basis for Baidu’s Apollo self-driving platform.
Investors in BlackBerry have been happy to hear about this deal as the company’s shares surged to a four-year high today. BlackBerry’s QNX division has developed the QNX Hypervisor 2.0 software to power complex computer systems in autonomous cars.
Baidu has confirmed that it’s going to use this software for its Apollo self-driving platform. “By integrating the BlackBerry QNX OS with the Apollo platform, we will enable carmakers to leap from prototype to production systems,” Baidu said.
BlackBerry has scored a big win with this partnership as the deal enables it to establish a footing in China’s autonomous car market. With BlackBerry’s pivot to a software-first company, such deals will only help in its turnaround efforts.
The partnership benefits Baidu as well. The company gets a robust platform foundation for its self-driving car technology that has received all the necessary industry safety certifications.
Filed in . Read more about Baidu, BlackBerry and Self-Driving Cars. Source: reuters