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QNX Gets Containers

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An old dog is learning some new tricks. QNX has been around since the 80s, and the OS is getting a big update from BlackBerry.

For those not familiar, QNX began as one of the first OS’s using a microkernel architecture. As opposed to a traditional monolith kernel, a microkernel runs most system level events as “servers”, which can be turned off by developers as needed. This combined with being a real-time operating system made the OS a natural fit for embedded automative operating systems.

Now, QNX supports containers with the release of their QNX Hypervisor 2.0. This will allow developers to further fine tune how applications components interact with important safety systems. It seems like a natural extension for an OS entirely geared around minimal resource utilization, reliability, and compartmentalization.

Sadly, it doesn’t look like QNX will be running Docker on your car any time soon.


Larry Dignan Comments:

QNX Hypervisor 2.0 creates containers to ensure that any breach in one auto application can be contained. For instance, an issue in the infotainment system wouldn’t impact digital instruments with containers and application isolation.

Qualcomm Technologies is adopting QNX Hypervisor 2.0 for some of its digital cockpit applications. Qualcomm will use BlackBerry’s hypervisor for its Snapdragon 820A automotive platform.

About Rich Stroffolino

Rich has been a tech enthusiast since he first used the speech simulator on a Magnavox Odyssey². Current areas of interest include ZFS, the false hopes of memristors, and the oral history of Transmeta.

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Gestalt – an organized field having properties that cannot be derived from the sum of component parts; a unified whole

Editors: Stephen Foskett, Tom Hollingsworth, Rich Stroffolino