BlackBerry Accelerates Push Into Tech for Self-Driving Cars

OTTAWA— BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday announced plans to invest about 100 million Canadian dollars ($76 million) in its push to develop software for the operation of driverless cars, hiring up to 600 engineers, as the company forges into new business lines after its retreat from smartphones.
A hub will be established in the Canadian capital of Ottawa to focus on software development under BlackBerry’s QNX platform, the Waterloo, Ontario company said.
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen unveiled the company’s plans at an event at the company’s offices in suburban Ottawa, in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also appeared. Mr. Trudeau said BlackBerry’s announcement on autonomous driving indicates the company “is ready to push the limits of innovation once again.”
Mr. Chen said the plan is to spend about C$100 million over the next few years at the Ottawa center. Most of the money would be focused on recruiting up to 600 engineers. The company employs roughly 5,000 employees, down from about 17,000 at BlackBerry’s peak at the end of fiscal 2011.
Building software for auto makers “is going to be a fast-growing business for us,” Mr. Chen told reporters. “This is only the beginning of what you are seeing here. Every car manufacturer is a potential customer of ours. So this could have a lot of operating space.”
Autonomous cars rely on a complex system of software and sensors to avoid hitting other vehicles, to read traffic signals, and to assess road conditions.
BlackBerry’s pivot toward autonomous driving comes after the company announced it would stop directly manufacturing smartphones and would instead license its technology to third-party manufacturers. It has already signed agreements with manufacturers in Indonesia and China, and is in talks with an Indian-based company.