Five reasons why they should test autonomous cars in Ontario

Did I say five? I meant six…

Paul Leroux

It was late and I needed to get home. So I shut down my laptop, bundled myself in a warm jacket, and headed out to the QNX parking lot. A heavy snow had started to fall, making the roads slippery — but was I worried? Not really. In Ottawa, snow is a fact of life. You learn to live with it, and you learn to drive in it. So I cleared off the car windows, hopped in, and drove off.

Alas, my lack of concern was short-lived. The further I drove, the faster and thicker the snow fell. And then, it really started to come down. Pretty soon, all I could see out my windshield was a scene that looked like this, but with even less detail:



That’s right: a pure, unadulterated whiteout. Was I worried? Nope. But only because I was in a state of absolute terror. Fortunately, I could see the faintest wisp of tire tracks immediately in front of my car, so I followed them, praying that they didn’t lead into a ditch, or worse. (Spoiler alert: I made it home safe and sound.)

Of course, it doesn’t snow every day in Ottawa — or anywhere else in Ontario, for that matter. That said, we can get blanketed with the white stuff any time from October until April. And when we do, the snow can play havoc with highways, railways, airports, and even roofs.

Roofs, you say? One morning, a few years ago, I heard a (very) loud noise coming from the roof of QNX headquarters. When I looked out, this is what I saw — someone cleaning off the roof with a snow blower! So much snow had fallen that the integrity of the roof was being threatened:



When snow like this falls on the road, it can tax the abilities of even the best driver. But what happens when the driver isn’t a person, but the car itself? Good question. Snow and blowing snow can mask lane markers, cover street signs, and block light-detection sensors, making it difficult for an autonomous vehicle to determine where it should go and what it should do. Snow can even trick the vehicle into “seeing” phantom objects.

And it’s not just snow. Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 other phenomena common to Ontario roads that pose a challenge to human and robot drivers alike: black ice, freezing rain, extreme temperatures, and moose. I am only half joking about the last item: autonomous vehicles must respond appropriately to local fauna, not least when the animal in question weighs half a ton.

To put it simply, Ontario would be a perfect test bed for advancing the state of autonomous technologies. So imagine my delight when I learned that the Ontario government has decided to do something about it.

Starting January 1, Ontario will become the first Canadian province to allow road testing of automated vehicles and related technology. The provincial government is also pledging half a million dollars to the Ontario Centres of Excellence Connected Vehicle/Automated Vehicle Program, in addition to $2.45 million already provided.

The government has also installed some virtual guard rails. For instance, it insists that a trained driver stay behind the wheel at all times. The driver must monitor the operation of the autonomous vehicle and take over control whenever necessary.

Testing autonomous vehicles in Ontario simply makes sense, but not only because of the weather. The province also has a lot of automotive know-how. Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, and Toyota all have plants here, as do 350 parts suppliers. Moreover, the province has almost 100 companies and institutions involved in connected vehicle and automated vehicle technologies — including, of course, QNX Software Systems and its parent company, BlackBerry.

So next time you’re in Ontario, take a peek at the driver in the car next to you. But don’t be surprised if he or she isn’t holding the steering wheel.


A version of this post originally appeared in Connected Car Expo blog.

Keeping it fresh for 35 years

By Megan Alink, Director of Marketing Communications for Automotive

Recently, my colleagues Paul Leroux and Matt Young showed off a shiny new infographic that enlightens readers to the many ways they encounter QNX-based systems in daily life (here and here). After three-and-a-half decades in business we’ve certainly been around the block a time or two, and you might think things are getting a bit stale. As the infographic shows, that couldn’t be further from the truth here at QNX. From up in the stars to down on the roads; in planes, trains, and automobiles (and boats too); whether you’re mailing a letter or crafting a BBM on your BlackBerry smartphone, the number and breadth of applications in which our customers deploy QNX technology is simply astounding.

For those who like some sound with their pictures, we also made a video to drive home the point that, wherever you are and whatever you do, chances are you’ll encounter a little QNX. Check it out:

Beyond the dashboard: discover how QNX touches your everyday life

QNX technology is in cars — lots of them. But it’s also in everything from planes and trains to smart phones, smart buildings, and smart vacuum cleaners. If you're interested, I happen to have an infographic handy...

I was a lost and lonely soul. Friends would cut phone calls short, strangers would move away from me on the bus, and acquaintances at cocktail parties would excuse themselves, promising to come right back — they never came back. I was in denial for a long time, but slowly and painfully, I came to the realization that I had to take ownership of this problem. Because it was my fault.

To by specific, it was my motor mouth. Whenever someone asked what I did for a living, I’d say I worked for QNX. That, of course, wasn’t a problem. But when they asked what QNX did, I would hold forth on microkernel OS architectures, user-space device drivers, resource manager frameworks, and graphical composition managers, not to mention asynchronous messaging, priority inheritance, and time partitioning. After all, who doesn't want to learn more about time partitioning?

Well, as I subsequently learned, there’s a time and place for everything. And while my passion about QNX technology was well-placed, my timing was lousy. People weren’t asking for a deep dive; they just wanted to understand QNX’s role in the scheme of things.

As it turns out, QNX plays a huge role, and in very many things. I’ve been working at QNX Software Systems for 25 years, and I am still gobsmacked by the sheer variety of uses that QNX technology is put to. I'm especially impressed by the crossover effect. For instance, what we learn in nuclear plants helps us offer a better OS for safety systems in cars. And what we learn in smartphones makes us a better platform supplier for companies building infotainment systems.

All of which to say, the next time someone asks me what QNX does, I will avoid the deep dive and show them this infographic instead. Of course, if they subsequently ask *how* QNX does all this, I will have a well-practiced answer. :-)

Did I mention? You can download a high-res JPEG of this infographic from our Flickr account and a PDF version from the QNX website.



Stay tuned for 2015 CES, where we will introduce even more ways QNX can make a difference, especially in how people design and drive cars.

And lest I forget, special thanks to my colleague Varghese at BlackBerry India for conceiving this infographic, and for the QNX employees who provided their invaluable input.