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Baidu taps BlackBerry software for autonomous platform (BIDU)
Chinese search giant Baidu announced it will build BlackBerry's QNX connected car operating system into its open-source Apollo self-driving software platform
Chinese search giant Baidu announced it will build BlackBerry's QNX connected car operating system (OS) into its open-source Apollo self-driving software platform, according toBloomberg.
In addition, Baidu will integrate its CarLife smartphone software, DeurOS voice assistant, and high-definition maps into QNX for use in self-driving cars using the company's software. Apollo is an open autonomous car software platform that any developer or company can code from. It was unveiled in July 2016, but uses technologies that Baidu has been developing for several years. Its early partners include Microsoft, graphics processor designer Nvidia, and Intel.
The announcement may be an indicator that Apollo is almost ready for market. Baidu already has a partnership in place with SAIC, China's second-largest domestic automaker by volume, to mass produce autonomous cars powered by Apollo starting sometime next year.
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The news that it's also building an OS, voice assistant, and detailed maps into the platform that gives a car self-driving capabilities suggests Baidu is making the final preparations to ready this system for consumers to use and interact with in the car. As a result, it's likely the company is on track to meet its goal for a commercial launch next year or earlier. This could give the company a key early-mover advantage over competitors like internet holdings giant Tencent, which is working on similar technologies but hasn't specified when it wants to launch them and doesn't have any partners yet.
Meanwhile, the deal is a major entry for BlackBerry into the potentially lucrative Chinese market. McKinseyestimatesthat China is currently the world's largest auto market, although government officials havestatedthey'd like to reduce the number of cars on the roads in the coming years. Driverless taxi services operated by companies like Baidu or ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing could be a way to do so, since Strategy& predicts that the cost per mile of operating a vehicle in such a service will drop to $0.17 from the $1.17 it currently takes to operate a shared, manually driven car.
Once this occurs, it'll likely become so inexpensive for many Chinese consumers to use such a service that they'd abandon their vehicles altogether, helping the overall mobility services market in the country climb from $15 billion last year to $564 billion in 2030, larger than both the US and European markets. Working with an established player like Baidu that's been working on autonomous technologies for a number of years and that plans to monetize these technologies soon gives BlackBerry an opportunity to capture a portion of market revenue.
It's possible the deal could prove to be a workable model for software companies in the autonomous car software space, though questions still remain. Pairing an OS with a self-driving system eliminates the need for automakers to build either system in-house, meaning they only need to build or purchase the sensor and camera suites to give cars self-driving capabilities.
Therefore, US-based tech companies like Apple and Google may opt to pair their connected car software OSs with the self-driving systems they're developing. In addition, legacy suppliers such as Bosch and Aptiv (formerly known as Delphi) could seek partnerships with tech companies to use their OSs. On the other hand, automakers may not want to relinquish control over the in-car experience, which often comes with partnerships, which may also involve new services that provide revenue streams. On the other hand, automakers may not want to relinquish control over the in-car experience — which can include other revenue-generating services, like in-car entertainment — that typically results from partnering with tech firms.
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