TWICE applauds QNX OS-powered OnStar 4G LTE with VIP Award

Megan Alink

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.

The A to Z of QNX in cars

Over 26 fast facts, brought to you by the English alphabet

Paul Leroux

A is for Audi, one of the first automakers to use QNX technology in its vehicles. For more than 15 years, Audi has put its trust in QNX, in state-of-the-art systems like the Audi virtual cockpit and the MIB II modular infotainment system. A is also for QNX acoustics software, which enhances hands-free voice communications, eliminates “boom noise” created by fuel-saving techniques, and even helps automakers create signature sounds for their engines.

B is for Bentley, BMW, and Buick, and for their QNX-powered infotainment systems, which include BMW ConnectedDrive and Buick Intellilink.

C is for concept vehicles, including the latest QNX technology concept car, a modded Maserati Quattroporte GTS. The car integrates an array of technologies — including cameras, LiDAR, ultrasonic sensors, and specialized navigation engines — to show how QNX-based ADAS systems can simplify driving tasks, warn of possible collisions, and enhance driver awareness.

D is for the digital instrument clusters in vehicles from Alpha Romeo, Audi, GM, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Land Rover. These QNX-powered displays can reconfigure themselves on the fly, providing quick, convenient access to turn-by-turn directions, back-up video, incoming phone calls, and a host of other information.

E is for experience. QNX has served the automotive market since the late 1990s, working with car makers and tier one suppliers to create infotainment systems for tens of millions of vehicles. QNX has been at work in safety-critical industrial applications even longer — since the 1980s. This unique pedigree makes QNX perfectly suited for the next generation of in-vehicle systems, which will consolidate infotainment and safety-related functions on a single, cost-effective platform.

F is for Ford, which has chosen the QNX Neutrino OS for its new SYNC 3 infotainment system. The system will debut this summer in the 2016 Ford Escape and Ford Fiesta and will be one of the first infotainment systems to support both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

G is for GM and its QNX-based OnStar system, which is now available in almost all of the company’s vehicles. GM also uses QNX OS and acoustics technology in several infotainment systems, including the award-winning Chevy MyLink.

H is for hypervisor. By using the QNX Hypervisor, automotive developers can consolidate multiple OSs onto a single system-on-chip to reduce the cost, size, weight, and power consumption of their designs. The hypervisor can also simplify safety certification efforts by keeping safety-related and non-safety-related software components isolated from each other.

I is for the ISO 26262 standard for functional safety in road vehicles. The QNX OS for Automotive Safety has been certified to this standard, at Automotive Safety Integrity Level D — the highest level achievable. This certification makes the OS suitable for a wide variety of digital clusters, heads-up displays, and ADAS applications, from adaptive cruise control to pedestrian detection.

J is for Jeep. The QNX reference vehicle, based on a Jeep Wrangler, showcases what the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment can do out of the box. In its latest iteration, the reference vehicle ups the ante with traffic sign detection, lane departure warnings, curve speed warnings, collision avoidance alerts, backup displays, and other ADAS features for enhancing driver awareness.

K is for Kia, which uses QNX technology in the infotainment and connectivity systems for several of its vehicles.

L is for LG, a long-time QNX customer that is using several QNX technologies to develop a new generation of infotainment systems, digital clusters, and ADAS systems for the global automotive market.

M is for Mercedes-Benz, which offers QNX-based infotainment systems in several of its vehicles, including the head unit and digital instrument cluster in the S Class Coupe. M is also for market share: according to IHS Automotive, QNX commands more than 50% of the infotainment software market.

N is for navigation. Thanks to the navigation framework in the QNX CAR Platform, automakers can integrate a rich variety of navigation solutions into their cars.

O is for the over-the-air update solution of the BlackBerry IoT Platform, which will help automakers cut maintenance costs, reduce expensive recalls, improve customer satisfaction, and keep vehicles up to date with compelling new features long after they have rolled off the assembly line.

P is for partnerships. When automotive companies choose QNX, they also tap into an incredibly rich partner ecosystem that provides infotainment apps, smartphone connectivity solutions, navigation engines, automotive processors, voice recognition engines, user interface tools, and other pre-integrated technologies. P is also for Porsche, which uses the QNX Neutrino OS in its head units, and for Porsche 911, which formed the basis of one of the first QNX concept cars.

Q is for the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment, a comprehensive solution that pre-integrates partner technologies with road-proven QNX software to jump-start customer projects.

R is for the reliability that QNX OS technology brings to advanced driver assistance systems and other safety-related components in the vehicle — the same technology proven in space shuttles, nuclear plants, and medical devices.

S is for the security expertise and solutions that Certicom and QNX bring to automotive systems. S is also for the advanced smartphone integration of the QNX CAR Platform, which allows infotainment systems to support the latest brought-in solutions, such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. S is also for the scalability of QNX technology, which allows customers to use a single software platform across all of their product lines, from high-volume economy vehicles to luxury models. And last, but not least, S is for the more than sixty million vehicles worldwide that use QNX technology. (S sure is a busy letter!)

T is for Toyota, which uses QNX technology in infotainment systems like Entune and Touch ‘n’ Go. T is also for tools: using the QNX Momentics Tool Suite, automotive developers can root out subtle bugs and optimize the performance of their sophisticated, multi-core systems.

U is for unified user interface. With QNX, automotive developers can choose from a rich set of user interface technologies, including Qt, HTML5, OpenGL ES, and third-party toolkits. Better yet, they can blend these various technologies on the same display, at the same time, for the ultimate in design flexibility.

V is for the Volkswagen vehicles, including the Touareg, Passat, Polo, Golf, and Golf GTI, that use the QNX Neutrino OS and QNX middleware technology in their infotainment systems.

W is for the QNX Wireless Framework, which brings smartphone-caliber connectivity to infotainment systems, telematics units, and a variety of other embedded devices. The framework abstracts the complexity of modem control, enabling developers to upgrade cellular and Wi-Fi hardware without having to rewrite their applications.

X, Y, and Z are for the 3D navigation solutions and the 3D APIs and partner toolkits supported by the QNX CAR Platform. I could show you many examples of these solutions in action, but my personal favorite is the QNX technology concept car based on a Bentley Continental GT. Because awesome.

Before you go... This post mentions a number of automotive customers, but please don’t consider it a complete list. I would have gotten them all in, but I ran out of letters!

The lost concept car photos

Have you ever rummaged through old boxes in your basement and discovered family photos you had totally forgotten about — or never knew existed? I experienced a moment like that a couple of weeks ago. Except, in this case, no basement was involved. And the box wasn't a box, but a shared drive. And the photos weren't of my family, but of cars. QNX technology concept cars, to be exact.

At least once a year, the QNX concept team retrofits a new vehicle to demonstrate how our technology can help auto companies push the envelope in connectivity, infotainment, and acoustics. And, in every case, we take pictures — sometimes, lots of them. Inevitably, we end up choosing a few images for publicity purposes and filing the others. But as I discovered, the images we don't use are often just as good as the ones we do use. We just don't need all of them!

In any case, stumbling across these photos was great fun. I thought you might enjoy them, too, so here goes...

The Porsche
First up is the QNX technology concept car based on a Porsche 911, which made its debut at 2012 CES. We had originally planned to drive the car back to Ottawa once CES was over — but that was before we spoke to our friends at Texas Instruments, who provided the silicon for the car's instrument cluster and infotainment system. They liked the car so much, they asked if we could bring it to their HQ in Dallas, where the following two photos were taken. All I can say is, Dallas is home to at least one awesome cool photographer. Because rather than curse the crazy lighting, the photographer used it to create some playful compositions:





If you look below, you'll see another shot of the Porsche, taken just before we shipped it off to CES. The image really doesn't belong in this collection, as it appeared once on a partner website. But it's rare nonetheless, so I decided to include it. And besides, it's cool. Literally.



Did you know? The original Porsche 911, which debuted in the early 60s, was dubbed the 901. Problem was, Peugeot had exclusive rights in France to three-digit car names with a 0 in the middle. And so, the 901 became the 911.

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The Bentley
Next up is the QNX technology concept car based on a Bentley Continental GT. In this image, the driver is interacting with the center stack's main control knob, which was mounted directly on a 17" touchscreen. See the row of icons just above the knob? These represented HVAC, music, navigation, hands-free calling and other system functions. The  system would automatically display these icons as your hand approached the display; you would then turn the knob to choose the function you wanted. (This image was taken by a BlackBerry employee, whose name I have most ungraciously forgotten.)



As with our all concept vehicles, the intent was to showcase the technology that we had built into the car's dashboard and center stack. Which probably explains why the following image of the car's exterior was never published. Pity, as it's quite lovely — a classic case of flare adding flair.



Did you know? Those wheels aren't just for show. The Bentley comes equipped with a 616 hp W12 engine (yup, three banks of cylinders) that can do 0-60 mph in a little over 4 seconds — it took me way longer than that to type this sentence.

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The Jeep
Next up is the Jeep Wrangler, which serves as the QNX reference vehicle. The Jeep plays a different role than the other vehicles highlighted here: instead of demonstrating how QNX technology can help automotive companies innovate, it shows what the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment can do right out of the box. In this image, you can see the vehicle's main navigation menu:



Did you know? The original infotainment system in the reference vehicle could post Facebook updates that listed the title and artist of the song currently playing. The system performed this magic in response to simple voice commands.

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The Vette
The QNX technology concept car based on a Chevrolet Corvette made its debut at SAE Convergence 2010. Among other things, it showed how digital instrument clusters can morph on the fly to provide drivers with context-sensitive information, such as turn-by-turn directions. You can see a slicker, more sophisticated approach to reconfigurable clusters in our most recent technology concept car based on a Mercedes CLA45.



Did you know? We used the Corvette to demonstrate how QNX technology enables automotive companies to create customizable, reskinnable user interfaces. Check out this post on the Corvette's 30-day UI challenge.

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The Prius
The first QNX-powered technology concept car was a digitally modded Prius — aka the LTE Connected Car. The car was a joint project of several companies, including QNX and Alcatel-Lucent, who wanted to demonstrate how 4G/LTE networks could transform the driving experience with a host of new in-vehicle applications.

Here's the car with a very proud-looking Derek Kuhn, who spearheaded the LTE Connected Car project while serving as a VP at Alcatel-Lucent. Derek subequently joined QNX as VP of sales and marketing:



Did you know? When this car was created, telecom companies had yet to light up their first commercial LTE towers. Also, the car had more infotainment systems than any other QNX technology concept car: two in the front (one for the driver and one for the front-seat passenger) and two in the back.

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Some things get lost, albeit temporarily. And some you just never see again. Fortunately, all these images belong to the first category. Any favorites?

Word of the day: Electrification

At this week’s Convergence in Detroit, Mark Reuss, NA president of GM, told a crowd at Tuesday’s keynote, “Hybridization is no longer enough; electrification is the future.”

What struck me most about this statement was the word, electrification; I had yet to hear it in the automotive context. So I did what anyone with a rocket stick would do, I googled it on my way home. The trail led back to GM’s blue paper on sustainable urban mobility, Roadmap to 2030.

For some time now I’ve been thinking about getting an electric or hybrid car but have been bemoaning the lack of choice. Apparently, the fact that a new ground-transportation paradigm requires wide-spread societal alignment hadn’t occurred to me. You just put up a few recharging stations, right?

GM EN-V electric concept car
Source Wikipedia

GM makes eight recommendations in their blue paper, two of which I find to be particularly interesting:

• Integrate electrically powered, connected vehicles into a multi-modal transport system that incorporates sophisticated inter-city transport, comprehensive subway systems, traditional vehicle movement, and specialized smaller urban vehicles
   
• Identify a series of “lighthouse” projects to demonstrate the potential and viability of connected electrically driven vehicles in a controlled environment such as an eco-city or small town

It is nice to see a company taking such a definitive stand and boldly painting a vision for the future; this kind of creative thinking is what we need.

I was surprised to discover the blue paper is from 2010; still if you haven’t already read it, it is worth a look. You can download the paper from the GM web site.