Blackberry invests in driverless cars
BlackBerry is going to write a cheque for $75 million to invest in a new autonomous vehicle testing hub over several years.
The company’s chief executive John Chen said the smartphone pioneer was looking elsewhere for growth and most of its cash was going on engineering jobs.
The company, which is racing to increase software sales as its handset unit and related legacy service access fees shrink, hopes to make itself indispensable in the automotive industry’s looming self-driving arms race. BlackBerry is hoping its security and safety credentials help it win a seat at the table as an array of automakers, chip and sensor providers and software developers work in competitive co-operation to bring self-driving cars to the mass market.
