Canada’s BlackBerry has revealed it intends to invest $75m in an autonomous vehicle testing hub over the next several years.
According to Reuters, the announcement came from BlackBerry’s chief executive John Chen who stated that the investment will go towards engineering jobs.
BlackBerry recently unveiled that it is transitioning its handheld devices strategy to focus on software innovation to provide the most secure and comprehensive devices. With this announcement, BlackBerry also appears to be moving towards the automotive industry, in particular self-driving cars.
Reuters added that the company is hoping its security and safety features will make it stand out against competition, including other automakers, chip and sensor providers and software developers.
BlackBerry will initially work with middleware supplier PolySync and semiconductor company Renesas Electronics Corp, and the University of Waterloo on its autonomous driving project.
