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Apple's CarPlay Works Alongside BlackBerry's QNX Car Platform

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple's newly unveiled CarPlay iOS vehicle integration system, which allows an iPhone to take over the in-dash display of a car, has been designed to work with BlackBerry's QNX operating system. The QNX Car Platform powers many in-car infotainment systems and includes a mobile connectivity framework that supports many mobile development environments, including iOS.

carplay_3.jpg
In a statement made to Lucas Atkins of N4BB, BlackBerry's Paul Leroux confirmed that CarPlay works alongside the QNX systems installed in many cars.
Connectivity to smartphones and other mobile devices is a key strength of QNX Software Systems' platform for car infotainment systems, and many automakers and tier one automotive suppliers use our platform to implement smartphone/head-unit integration in their vehicles. We have a long-standing partnership with Apple to ensure high-quality connectivity with their devices, and this partnership extends to support for Apple CarPlay.
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CarPlay, which requires an iPhone to function, can be likened to Apple's AirPlay, mirroring the iPhone's display and functionality to the existing in-car infotainment system.

Since CarPlay was announced yesterday, multiple manufacturers, including Volvo, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz have shown off vehicles with CarPlay integration. Other manufacturers, such as Honda, Jaguar, Hyundai, and more, are expected to launch vehicles with CarPlay support in 2014.

Article Link: Apple's CarPlay Works Alongside BlackBerry's QNX Car Platform
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/04/carplay-qnx-integration/
This sucks. CarPlay is merely a layer using someone else's OS with someone else's hardware, seemingly.

I doubt Apple can leverage the quality and UX we're familiair with without fully integrating the hardware and software.
 
This doesn't surprise me at all. Given how Apple isn't known for cooperation and most auto-manufacturers already have a QNX infotainment system, it would make more sense to use that than develop something completely from scratch.

Plus, if Apple made it from scratch, it would probably have taken another year to get through regulatory hurdles.
 
Thanks for actually reporting on this properly. So many poorly researched articles out there are taking this quote and twisting it in such a way that it looks like Carplay is actually based on QNX.

Carplay is just an iOS extension, it's not some standalone thing. It works with a variety of cars too, not just QNX ones (the Volvo that they demo'd for instance is based on Android).
 
TC03 said:
This sucks. CarPlay is merely a layer using someone else's OS with someone else's hardware, seemingly.
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Yes, but QNX happens to be on the the best embedded OS's available. Now if it was running Windows 3.11 embedded, I'd have concerns. But QNS is (IMO) better than BSD for embedded OS's.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Yes, but QNX happens to be on the the best embedded OS's available. Now if it was running Windows 3.11 embedded, I'd have concerns. But QNS is (IMO) better than BSD for embedded OS's.
Click to expand...
Sure. But Apple is about integrating hardware and software, with CarPlay, Apple doesn't control anything.
 
This is actually fantastic news.

it means that existing QNX based car systems MIGHT be capable of having software update to bring CarPlay to existing cars, rather than be exclusive for new models...

However, it is the car industry. I'm doubtful that'll happen, even if technologically feasible.
 
TC03 said:
Sure. But Apple is about integrating hardware and software, with CarPlay, Apple doesn't control anything.
Click to expand...

Actually, they control almost everything. They give the specifications to the car manufacturer, and the manufacturer has to make the hardware/interface to spec. If they don't, then they don't get Carplay certified.

QNX, Sync, Android, it doesn't matter what the underlying OS is. If the interface isn't up to spec, Apple won't allow Carplay to function.
 
CarPlay should work on top of any automotive OS

Actually, I would expect the CarPlay stack to work on any embedded OS used by car manufacturers. There is probably not much Apple SW in the car end of it all, rather the SW is built according to Apple's specifications.

It should even work on top of, say, Android, if any car manufacturer should choose this as the OS for their driver interface unit (like Audi seems to have done).
 
TC03 said:
Sure. But Apple is about integrating hardware and software, with CarPlay, Apple doesn't control anything.
Click to expand...

CarPlay runs off the iPhone, which Apple controls, and Apple can ask for whatever specs they need from head unit in exchange for licensing CarPlay compatibility. Your complaint makes as much sense as complaining that speaker docks and home theatre receivers suck because Apple doesn't control the hardware.

Know what would really suck? Buying a car that only worked with iPhones. Good thing CarPlay doesn't work that way.
 
This is great news. It sheds some light on how it will work if you don't own an iPhone.

The Apple Extremists are probably screaming at the top of their lungs with outrage, lol.
 
Moonlight said:
What if Apple bought Blackberry? Or just their automobile QNX division?
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highly unlikely that BlackBerry will part with the QNX division of the company. They bought it with explicit use that all future Blackberry OS's will be QNX based.

if they sold the QNX division they'd be dumping years of work.

though, its more likely that if Apple wanted to, they could just buy all of Blackberry right now. Probably for cash
 
It's a neat first step, but I just assume use bluetooth for car audio/navigation. It will be an interesting feature for my consideration of a new automobile the day it also works with vehicle climate controls and its internal statistics for maintenance.
 
TonyYYZ said:
This is great news. It sheds some light on how it will work if you don't own an iPhone.
Click to expand...

Which is to say, CarPlay itself won't work without an iPhone... but CarPlay is a feature of these systems, no different from AppRadio or MirrorLink, not the system itself. Much like AppRadio/MirrorLink support in this Pioneer head unit: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/GPS-Navigation/AVIC-X850BT.

tasset said:
It's a neat first step, but I just assume use bluetooth for car audio/navigation. It will be an interesting feature for my consideration of a new automobile the day it also works with vehicle climate controls and its internal statistics for maintenance.
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Main problem with that idea is that BT barely has the bandwidth + latency for audio, let alone a high enough quality video feed to make this sort of thing work. Latency needs to be low so that the response to touch is not laggy.
 
TonyYYZ said:
This is great news. It sheds some light on how it will work if you don't own an iPhone.

The Apple Extremists are probably screaming at the top of their lungs with outrage, lol.
Click to expand...

Huh? Carplay won't work without an iPhone. Period.
Cars will still work without carplay, just as they always have.

Why would anyone be outraged?

----------
Oletros said:
Please, tell that you're joking or perhaps more than one will have an attack
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?

Lots of Android based infotainment systems out there. It's not like the whole car runs on Android, just the headunit.
 
Wonder if this has anything to do with why Ford decided to ditch Microsoft Sync in favor of QNX very recently for future MyFordTouch updates.
 
This seems very significant. Can anyone think of an iOS peripheral that allows the functions of the iPhone to be displayed and controlled on a touchscreen that wasn't built by Apple? I'm referring to the ability to use an iPhone as a remote to control another iPhone or iPad.
 
Krevnik said:
Main problem with that idea is that BT barely has the bandwidth + latency for audio, let alone a high enough quality video feed to make this sort of thing work. Latency needs to be low so that the response to touch is not laggy.
Click to expand...

No I'm not suggesting use bluetooth for video, I doubt that would be legal anyway. I'm content with bluetooth audio and sound systems that most cars have nowadays. I might consider an aftermarket unit for Carplay that can be added to a vehicle if/when it is available, but this in itself I don't find is a big enough value-add.
 
Meicyn said:
Wonder if this has anything to do with why Ford decided to ditch Microsoft Sync in favor of QNX very recently for future MyFordTouch updates.
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Ford could drop in a 1970 8 track player and it would be more usable and friendly. I feel that carplay is going to show up in their line, but that MS sync thing was a dumpster fire.

MS had the right idea though. Its an exciting interface to own.
 
paradox00 said:
CarPlay runs off the iPhone, which Apple controls, and Apple can ask for whatever specs they need from head unit in exchange for licensing CarPlay compatibility. Your complaint makes as much sense as complaining that speaker docks and home theatre receivers suck because Apple doesn't control the hardware.

Know what would really suck? Buying a car that only worked with iPhones. Good thing CarPlay doesn't work that way.
Click to expand...
The touch screen isn't made by Apple. Apple can't guarantee the fast and responsive UI as it is on the iPhone and iPad.
 
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