TOKYO and WATERLOO, ON, Sept. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Mitsubishi Electric (TOKYO: 6503) and BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced that Mitsubishi Electric’s new automotive in-cabin system, Mitsubishi Electric FLEXConnect™, will be powered by BlackBerry IVY®, an edge-to-cloud vehicle data platform. The collaboration will help advance road safety by leveraging an array of sensor data to anticipate safety risks, reduce driver distractions, highlight potential driving hazards, and enable new consumer experiences.

“The collaboration between Mitsubishi Electric and BlackBerry to advance our in-cabin system takes the driving experience to the next level by truly going the extra mile,” said Mark Rakoski, VP Advanced Engineering at Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America, inc. “With its advanced safety features, intuitive interface, and enhanced sensory feedback, Mitsubishi Electric FLEXConnect™ establishes a new cabin experience standard, revolutionizing the way we interact with vehicles. With BlackBerry IVY, we’re able to bring innovations like this to market faster, and in full confidence that the security and privacy of user data is protected.”

“We are delighted that Mitsubishi Electric has selected BlackBerry to power its new in-vehicle system,” said Vito Giallorenzo, SVP General Manager of IVY and Head of Corporate Development at Blackberry. “By leveraging BlackBerry IVY as a key component of its FLEXConnect™ platform, Mitsubishi Electric raises the bar for in-cabin experiences and helps improve road safety. BlackBerry IVY is unique in how it enables automotive OEMs to leverage a multitude of vehicle signal data in real-time and cost effectively into valuable insights.”

The Mitsubishi Electric FLEXConnect™ platform core is its driver monitoring system (DMS) and occupant monitoring system (OMS). BlackBerry IVY allows the platform to extract and analyze data from internal and external sensors and leverages machine learning to process all data collected at the vehicle edge compute node.

Safety features and consumer experiences that BlackBerry IVY powers in the Mitsubishi Electric FLEXConnect™ platform include:

• Determining driver distraction and concentration levels by detecting signs of drowsiness, estimating cognitive load, monitoring interaction with the infotainment system and more.
• Collecting biometric information to provide insight into short- and long-term changes to a driver’s physical status, such as health, triggering autonomous pullovers and alerts to emergency services.
• Analyzing facial features to create personalized identification profiles for automated verification to enable vehicle access and in-car payments.
• Correlating user preferences with environmental information, such as suggesting optimal parking locations based on preferences for cost, distance from destination, parking format and availability.

For more information on Mitsubishi Electric FLEXConnect™, visit meaa-mea.com/.

For more information on BlackBerry solutions for the software-defined vehicle visit: BlackBerry.com/IVY.