Ottawa firm masters car sounds


QNX Software makes a mild-mannered Kia Soul sound powerful and adds an infotainment system with speech recognition to a Mercedes

Ottawa firm masters car sounds

QNX concept cars offer sound effects to satisfy those who love the sound of an engine revving, but drive quiet, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Photograph by: The Canadian Press , The Canadian Press

For car lovers, there is just something about a revving engine that gets the blood moving faster.

Now automakers can capitalize on that feeling by teaming with a division of BlackBerry that is developing a way to replicate the sound of yesteryear's driving experience, even as cars become quieter and more fuel efficient.

Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems - acquired by BlackBerry nearly four years ago - debuted a couple of concept cars on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One is a modified Kia Soul hatchback that showcases a new technology called "engine sound enhancement." In its most basic form, it's a soundtrack that plays a simulation of the engine both inside the car and for people on the outside through speakers.

QNX is also displaying a modified Mercedes CLA45 that has an "infotainment" system built into the dashboard. The technology utilizes speech recognition and supports applications on the Android Jellybean operating system.

QNX sales and marketing vicepresident Derek Kuhn said the sound simulator in the Kia is aimed at drivers who want a car that is better for the environment but still maintains a sporty feel.

The new technology is an answer to the requests from vehicle manufacturers who have managed to lighten the weight of their models over the years by removing insulation and other parts that have grown to be unnecessary.

"Unfortunately when you take insulation out ... it starts to add strange noises that you've never really heard before in cars," Kuhn said in a phone interview from Vegas.

"Adding a very careful soundtrack to how you develop that emotion within the cabin is important."

For automakers, it's important to get a vehicle's sound right, Kuhn said. If a car sounds different, then often drivers will think something is wrong with it.

The challenge is that every automaker wants a different sound, and the synthetic purr - or roar - of an engine can be as much an act of image branding as it's an exercise in authenticity.

Kuhn said one manufacturer was very particular when they asked a band to enter a recording studio.

"They wanted their car to sound like the cross between a certain brand of bass guitar and a snow leopard," he said.

"Different companies have different opinions. Some of them just want a certain kind of exhaust note."

The QNX technology in the Mercedes includes an app that operates on HTML5 - one of the programming languages used to create web pages - and allows drivers to control the windows, door locks and car stereo from a keyfob.

The car offers a preview of what's to come in the next five years for the automotive industry, QNX said.

The company has dedicated its business to tinkering with these intricacies in the world of complex computer software - but the company isn't just about cars. Since its formation 33 years ago, QNX has quietly worked away at the technology hidden within the guts of countless everyday machines.

In the health-care industry, QNX software is built into the diagnostics of blood analytics systems, some defibrillators and X-ray machines. The U.S. military has software developed by the company running in its submarines. And in Vegas, security software from QNX is deep inside some slot machines.

When BlackBerry purchased QNX in 2010, the developer began designing the smartphone operating system that would become the platform for BlackBerry 10 phones.

BlackBerry was already falling behind competitors such as Google and Apple that were rapidly advancing with their own phones, which ran application technology that would cripple older Black-Berry devices.

"It was a massive win for BlackBerry because they needed an operating system," said Kris Thompson, an analyst at National Bank.

"That saved their bacon." BlackBerry has faced even more difficult times after its new phones failed to catch on with customers in the way it hoped. New chief executive John Chen is trying to return BlackBerry to profitability by cutting costs and reworking its priorities.

While QNX is a part of BlackBerry's overall business, in many ways the software maker operates as a separate entity that shares technology with its parent company.

After the Consumer Electronics Show, QNX plans to take the technology on the road to various auto shows across North America this year.



Photograph by: The Canadian Press, The Canadian Press


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