Fortune discussing with director of engineering for Android Auto.
Fortune sat down with Patrick Brady(PB), director of engineering for Android Auto:
How easy will it be for QNX, which licenses its Unix-like operating systems for infotainment and safety functions, to operate on Android? Will QNX be a competitor or a partner?
PB: In many ways, you could say Android and QNX are competitors, but in other ways they�re very complementary.
PB: QNX was built around operating real-time safety critical operations, and Android was built around great connected services and things like that. They�re actually a natural pairing.
PB: If you want an advanced ADAS system, I would not advise you to choose Android today. That�s not what Linux and Android were built for. QNX runs in so many safety critical systems from airplanes to automotive, I think they could be quite complementary, and I think you will see instances where cars run both.
Even though Google�s self driving car project is separate from Android, I wonder if there are any conversations about what the operating system for those self-driving cars might be? Is there talk of bringing the two together eventually?
PB: There is certainly no conversations about merging them or anything like that. We definitely do talk with them. I mean even in self-driving cars, you want air conditioning and things like. So they will need to figure out, or their partners will, a platform to power all of that.
PB: We talk to them, but not in anyway about merging.