Application platform

The QNX CAR platform offers a new approach to prototyping and productizing in-vehicle systems. It pre-integrates QNX products, third-party technologies, and code from our technology incubator as a set of reference implementations — and then delivers these implementations through a new and simple business model. This model provides QNX CAR customers with a low-risk way to build compelling, connected products that improve the bottom line.

Business issues

OEMs are continually in a battle between customer desires and price point, especially in this harsh economic climate. QNX Software Systems provides the platform to solve key business issues:

• Synchronize mismatched consumer electronic and vehicle lifecycles
• Keep in-vehicle systems fresh and up-to-date
• Supply increasingly demanding vehicle connectivity features
• Continue to reduce cost

Development issues

Engineers struggle to build quality products that customers desire under tight deadlines. QNX Software Systems helps engineers solve their challenges with our field-tested solutions:

• Quickly create proofs-of-concept
• Maintain clean intellectual property without licensing issues
• Create visually stimulating and compelling HMIs
• Reuse software assets

Our solution

QNX Software Systems provides pre-integrated reference implementations that solve business and development issues through our QNX CAR application platform:

• Safe downloading of new capabilities
• Extensive partner ecosystem for broad software support
• Free when prototyping and creating proofs-of-concept
See also: QNX CAR platform

Infotainment

Today’s infotainment systems are a complex hybrid of multimedia, radio, navigation, telematics, and internet-related technologies. QNX Software Systems offers a strong foundation from which to address the myriad of challenges from these different industries, and the QNX CAR platform does the difficult – often underestimated – work of integrating these technologies together.

Business issues

Solving the business issues behind a successful infotainment product isn’t just about the software. It’s about keeping costs low while still hitting the market at the right place and time, clearing any legal or licensing impediments to deploy as soon as possible. QNX Software Systems minimize business concerns, actively working to:

• Ensure product relevance with an application store and downloadable applications
• Solve concerns for multimedia licensing and DRM issues
• Reduce hardware cost by removing traditional DSP-only features
• Keeping distributed applications and cloud-hosted content fresh through Internet connectivity

Development issues

Creating infotainment systems requires a non-stop education and development investment in the latest of multimedia standards, protocols, devices, and codecs, not to mention networking, navigation, and gaming. Focus your engineering staff on the differentiating features that really matter instead of recreating existing software and plumbing. QNX Software Systems gives engineers the tools they need to:

• Integrate consumer technologies into a reliable vehicle environment
• Solve complex multimedia organization, connectivity to a broad array of devices, and handling numerous codecs and file formats
• Leverage pre-existing software modules (navigation, speech, cloud) from ecosystem partners and Internet resources

Our solution

QNX Software Systems provides a well-rounded and production-proven Infotainment solution that continues to expand in capability, with:

• Pre-integration with industry leaders Adobe, Apple, Atlantic Records, Chumby, Google, Gracenote, Microsoft, Nuance, Pandora, TCS, and many others
• Advanced HMI design with Adobe Flash, for graphically beautiful and responsive user interfaces
• Continual development through our Foundry27 technology incubator

Instrument clusters

The digital instrument cluster is the new frontier for in-vehicle electronics. It’s a place where safety-critical features meet compelling graphical environments. See why QNX Software Systems has all the right technologies that come together for a perfect fit in this up-and-coming space. Or better yet, take advantage of the pre-integrated digital instrument cluster reference that’s available through the QNX CAR platform.

Business issues

A well-executed instrument cluster can bring a huge amount of prestige and attention to a vehicle. But a poorly executed one can spell complete disaster, not only affecting sales but creating potential liability. QNX Software Systems can help meet robust and reliable demands while adding sizzle by:

• Building products to strict safety standards
• Leveraging development across multiple vehicle lines by reskinning cluster
• Maintaining rapid development pace despite introduction of new technologies

Development issues

Developing a digital instrument cluster requires retraining technical staff for a host of new technologies that aren’t in the analog space. QNX Software Systems can help ease the transition by providing ready-made solutions:

• Move from home-built OS to true RTOS, leveraging standards and the ability to use existing code
• Create system with “instant” boot speed to meet customer expectations on immediate cluster availability as soon as vehicle is started
• Use sophisticated 2D and 3D graphics to create rich compelling displays

Our solution

QNX Software Systems provides a digital instrument cluster solution that can handle the demanding reliability environment at the same time as providing beautiful, attractive cluster graphics with:

• A pre-integrated digital instrument cluster design that speeds design development
• Standards based tools (Eclipse) and OS (POSIX) that enables rapid learning curve
• Component based architecture that promotes software reuse
• A reliable and certifiable RTOS, which makes safety critical designs possible
• Adobe Flash and OpenGL-ES based HMI for creating beautiful, compelling graphics

Hands-free

The line between a simple hands-free system and a complete telematics system is blurring as OEMs continue to expand and add features to headless modules. QNX Software Systems is a pioneer in the telematics industry, and has the technology and experience to help, no matter how complex the hands-free features become in a deployed system.

In fact, as of 2009, QNX technology is shipping in over 75 percent of factory-installed Bluetooth hands-free systems in vehicles from Acura, Daimler Chrysler, Honda, Nissan, Saab, Toyota, and many others.

We are the recognized leader in this space not only because of our industry-leading real-time OS, but also because of the advanced technology in the QNX Aviage Acoustic Processing Suite. The same technology that companies have come to rely on for standalone hands-free systems is now pre-integrated into the QNX car platform. The rare combination of acoustic technology and microkernel reliability allows us to help OEM and tier one suppliers meet a growing number of challenges.

Business issues

Hands-free systems are morphing from offering simple Bluetooth calling to incorporating more and more telematics features, which drives up complexity. At the same time, escalating costs must be driven down. Balancing these two opposing forces, while continually improving reliability, audio quality, and simplifying or eliminating the OEM tuning process are key to a successful hands-free system. QNX Software Systems understands the business issues driving hands-free systems, and helps solve these issues:

• Migrating simple hands-free systems into full gateways
• Maintaining hard real-time responsiveness and life-critical reliability
• Reducing cost through replacing hardware BOM with software capability

Development issues

Creating a flawless hands-free system is a complex endeavor and anything that can be done to make the developer’s life easier is welcome. QNX Software Systems provides secure, reliable, upgradeable components for creating hands-free systems that:

• Integrate with speech technologies for email text-to-speech and hands-free communication
• Handle noisy environments and double-talk
• Offer next-generation speech technologies using context-based natural language recognition

Our solution

QNX Software Systems has a repeatedly production-proven solution that improves user experience while making the system development simple with:

• Best-in-class audio quality for a hands-free solution
• Elimination of the need for an OEM to do expensive and time consuming tuning for each vehicle
• Removal of requirement for dedicated speech, AEC, or hands-free DSP
• Handling of telematics protocols and networking

The QNX Automotive Solutions team is uniquely qualified to help customers eliminate program delays and meet or exceed project milestones and start of production (SOP) commitments.

We have worked extensively in all areas of in-car computing, including:

• low-latency audio systems
• multimedia
• graphics, displays, and rotating media (hard disks and CDs)
• file systems
• peripheral busses: USB, SPI, I2S, I2C

We have logged hundreds of person years of automotive development, support, and integration in all areas of the QNX product portfolio.

We currently have a 100 percent success rate helping customers meet their deadlines.

With hundreds of person years in automotive development, support, and integration, the QNX Automotive Solutions team knows how to manage and deliver complex projects within tight timeframes and budgets.

By co-sourcing integration and development work with the QNX Automotive Solutions team, customers can focus more time on more important things – like adding high value features to products.

Members of the QNX Automotive Solutions team have first-hand experience optimizing QNX-based software to perform optimally on partner hardware; we use this experience to help customers cut development costs and speed time-to-revenue.

QNX Automotive Solutions offers three engineering support options:

• Architecture reviews
• Demonstration support
• Technology prototyping
• Driver development and optimization
• System-level analysis
• Prioritized enhancements and bug fixing
• Target platform specific testing
• Advanced system-level optimization (fast start up, system profiling, BOM cost reduction, mini-drivers, footprint)

This team includes a project manager, senior developer, and development/test specialist, and is backed by a software development group of professionals focused on automotive-specific projects.

This team can be on-site on short notice to help troubleshoot and solve complex, unforeseen issues. It is supported by resources in the larger QNX Automotive Solutions and core QNX engineering teams. It has close ties with key suppliers of automotive software and hardware products, and services.

This service allows your engineering team to work hand-in-hand with members of the QNX Automotive Solutions team. We provide development and lab space for multiple team members, test equipment, prototype hardware, and, if required, the vehicle itself.

Customers who work with the QNX Automotive Solutions team know they are working with a team that has a successful formula to achieving results. The questions we ask when creating a customer plan include:

• What technology can we leverage to meet customer deliverables?
• What BSP customizations are needed (custom hardware)?
• What middleware customizations are needed?
• What future roadmap or R&D work must be pulled into product?
• What reference code can be leveraged but must be hardened?
• What pieces are missing and must be created?
• What is the division of responsibility between the customer and QNX Software Systems?
• What is the schedule of work?