Shares of BlackBerry experienced a significant increase during early trading following the announcement of a partnership with Amazon Web Services to co-develop and promote its vehicle data integration and monitoring platform, known as IVY.

BlackBerry’s stock value rose by 35%, equivalent to $2.11, at the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. This demonstrates the considerable potential within the market for intelligent vehicle services and the positive impact Amazon’s involvement can have on other companies.

Having once dominated the smartphone market, BlackBerry has successfully repositioned itself as a provider of business security and data integration solutions, which ultimately led to the interest from Amazon’s web services division.

The initial collaboration between the two companies was revealed in January 2020, prior to the pandemic, with BlackBerry stating its intention to work with AWS on connected vehicle safety and security services for applications within vehicles.

Currently, approximately 175 million vehicles are utilizing the QNX service, which is powered by BlackBerry and AWS technology and was initially launched five years ago.

“Over the last five years, BlackBerry QNX technology has progressed from supporting 60 million vehicles to now being featured in over 175 million – representing a nearly threefold growth,” stated John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. “This highlights the continued confidence that leading automotive manufacturers and their suppliers place in BlackBerry’s ability to deliver secure and reliable software for the next generation of vehicles.”

The latest iteration of connected car services from the company, based in Waterloo, Canada, enables automakers to collect vehicle sensor data from various suppliers, standardize this data, and gain valuable insights for both remote use and integration within the vehicle itself.

The IVY software system can operate within a vehicle’s existing systems, while being configured remotely through the cloud, allowing automakers to offer drivers features such as information on road conditions, driver behavior analysis, or battery usage for electric vehicles.

The BlackBerry toolkit also simplifies collaboration for automakers with a broader range of developers, facilitating the creation of new services focused on vehicle performance enhancement, reduced maintenance expenses, and remote software updates. This could potentially lead to a wider adoption of features similar to those found in Tesla vehicles.

“The automotive industry is witnessing new opportunities for innovation through data and connectivity, and BlackBerry and AWS share a unified goal of providing automakers and developers with enhanced insights to deliver innovative services to consumers,” Chen explained in a press release. “This software platform is poised to usher in a new era of in-vehicle experiences and enable the development of new applications, services, and opportunities while maintaining safety, security, and customer privacy. We are excited to strengthen our partnership with AWS to realize this vision and deliver BlackBerry IVY.”

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