QNX Software Systems has rolled out a pre-integrated hardware-and-software platform aimed at helping tier-one suppliers develop automotive instrument clusters and infotainment systems.
Known as QNX CAR, the new platform was created to enable design engineers to save development time and differentiate their dashboard products more effectively. The company's executives say QNX CAR provides the technical expertise needed to do the low-level software and silicon integration, thereby freeing up automotive engineers to concentrate on product features.
"We are shipping a hardware platform to the car companies and tier-ones that's already pre-integrated and working," says Andrew Poliak, automotive business manager for QNX, a maker of embedded operating systems. "The reason we're providing this platform is that we thought through the experience from the point of view of a car company. Some of their developers know certain software tools but they don't necessarily know C or C++."
QNX executives say the new product includes a connected application platform, sample applications and reference implementations. The application platform includes integrations with consumer devices, music management systems, Internet radio, Bluetooth and other third-party technologies. QNX CAR also supports multiple silicon architectures, including ARM, Power, SH, and Atom processors provided by Freescale, Renesas, Texas Instruments, Nvidia, Fujitsu and others.
On its website QNX says it has at least ten participants in the QNX CAR program, including such industry heavyweights as Daimler, GM, Microsoft, Volkswagen, Adobe, and Apple, among others.
By handling the burden of low-level integration and removing the need for expertise in that area, QNX engineers predict that QNX CAR will shave significant amounts of development time for OEM engineers.
"It makes it easy to develop the instrumentation for rendering the gages and needles for the speedometer and tachometer," Poliak says. "We're trying to enable the tier-ones to really show what they can do in terms of innovation."
Watch a video about QNX CAR.