????去年1月，在拉斯維加斯舉辦的消費電子展上，一輛純黑色的敞篷賓利停在展臺上，華美逼人。這一周的大多數(shù)時間里，當成千上萬的車迷穿過拉斯維加斯會議中心的北廳時，這輛賓利——起價191,000美元的敞篷歐陸GTC——無疑是眾人矚目的焦點。不過，吸引眾人的并不是它那流線型的外觀，而是它那充滿未來感的儀表板。這個儀表板由位于渥太華的軟件公司QNX開發(fā)，擁有3D地圖和倒車雷達影像，以及預(yù)觸控（pre-touch）技術(shù)——每當用戶的手接近那塊巨大的17英寸屏幕，屏幕就會自動激活。它甚至還按賓利的要求提供了視頻會議功能（當然只有停車時才能用這項功能）。

????十多年來，QNX——也就是為黑莓（BlackBerry）手機開發(fā)全新操作系統(tǒng)黑莓10的這家QNX——一直在為汽車業(yè)開發(fā)定制軟件。如果問問業(yè)內(nèi)分析師，QNX的口碑如何？聽到的都是“堅如磐石”，“絕不會崩潰的解決方案”這類溢美之詞，很適合想象高速行駛時行車電腦一旦出故障可能會出現(xiàn)的情形（2003年，QNX的一位客戶在接受采訪時對《財富》雜志打了個玩笑式的比方：“唯一能讓他們的軟件失靈的辦法就是對著行車電腦來上一槍。”）QNX的銷售和營銷副總裁德里克?庫恩稱，QNX憑借自己的好名聲很早就拿下了所謂的信息娛樂市場的一大塊份額，2011年出貨量就已經(jīng)達到了900萬套，占此類設(shè)備總銷量的60%。奧迪（Audi），豐田（Toyota ），寶馬（BMW），保時捷（Porsche），本田（Honda ）和路虎（Land Rover）全都搭載了QNX的系統(tǒng)，而庫恩估計，目前全球搭載QNX軟件的汽車有“幾千萬輛”。來自信息咨詢公司IHS的一份行業(yè)報告稱，2013年信息娛樂系統(tǒng)的銷售收入將達到67億美元。

????互聯(lián)設(shè)備，無論是冰箱也好，還是洗衣機也好，都來自于更出色的技術(shù)，以及消費者建立如智能手機一樣的“始終聯(lián)接”的愿望。QNX的汽車產(chǎn)品營銷經(jīng)理安迪?格瑞克稱，互聯(lián)汽車——想象一下內(nèi)置了GPS、藍牙和Wi-Fi的車——可能正是最可行的集多種系統(tǒng)于一身的產(chǎn)物。長途交通，以及對手機免提使用和GPS的需求，使汽車成為信息娛樂設(shè)備最好的試驗田。高德納公司（Gartner）的分析師蒂洛?科斯洛夫斯基的解釋是：“汽車就是終極移動設(shè)備。”升級的技術(shù)和用戶更高的期望也正促使汽車廠商將信息娛樂設(shè)備——主要是帶觸屏的儀表板——納入到標配車型上?？扑孤宸蛩够A(yù)計，到2020年，80%的新車都將裝備內(nèi)置信息娛樂設(shè)備，比目前的40%大幅上升。

????想當初，1980年QNX剛成立時，很難想象它將很快在汽車業(yè)大展拳腳。公司起步階段，聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人丹?道奇和高登?貝爾勉強做到了財務(wù)平衡，考慮到他們并未去拿風投，能做到這一點已屬難能可貴。這對創(chuàng)業(yè)兄弟當時每天工作20個小時。擔任首席執(zhí)行官的道奇當時已58歲，靠自己的太太上班支援；而2004年退休的首席運營官貝爾早年為了省錢，干脆一直住在父母家里。最初QNX的系統(tǒng)是為PC設(shè)計的，但20世紀90年代后期，隨著它不斷升級，這套軟件的靈活性使公司的業(yè)務(wù)重心開始慢慢轉(zhuǎn)向其他商機。這個出乎意料的轉(zhuǎn)型及它在眾多工業(yè)領(lǐng)域和消費品上的成功應(yīng)用使QNX得以與當時專注于PC軟件開發(fā)的公司如微軟公司（Microsoft）和IBM公司區(qū)分開來。QNX的應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域很廣，核電站、醫(yī)院和賭場只是其中一些領(lǐng)域而已。2009年，QNX軟件還被用于一個由瑞士發(fā)起的名為“太陽脈沖”（Solar Impulse）的項目，旨在打造太陽能驅(qū)動的飛機。

????Under the bright lights of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January, a stunning black Bentley sat with the top down on the showroom floor. The Bentley -- a Continental GTC convertible starting at $191,000 -- became the center of attention throughout most of the week as thousands of geeks filed through the Las Vegas Convention Center's North Hall. But it was not for its curvaceous sheet metal that attracted them but its futuristic dashboard inside. Developed by Ottawa-based software company QNX, this dashboard boasted 3-D maps and reverse cameras, pre-touch technology that kicks the massive 17-inch screen to life as a hand approaches, and even, per Bentley's request: video conferencing (only functional when the car is in park, of course).

????For more than a decade, QNX -- the same QNX that makes BlackBerry's (BBRY) new mobile operating system known as BlackBerry 10 -- has developed software specifically tailored toward the auto industry. Ask analysts what reputation QNX carries, and you'll get phrases like "rock solid" or "a solution for things that can't crash," fitting considering the potential consequences of a computer failure while traveling at freeway speeds. (In a 2003 interview, one QNX customer jokingly told Fortune, "The only way to make this software malfunction is to fire a bullet into the computer running it.") QNX has wielded this reputation to carve out an early hold on the so-called infotainment market share, shipping more than 9 million units in 2011, over 60% of all such units sold, according to Derek Kuhn, vice president of sales and marketing. Audi, Toyota (TM), BMW, Porsche, Honda (HMC), Land Rover -- QNX has been in them all, and Kuhn estimates QNX software currently operates in "tens of millions" of cars around the globe. An automotive industry report from IHS pegs infotainment revenues at $6.7 billion for 2013.

????Connected devices, from refrigerators to washing machines, have stemmed from better technology and a consumer-base eager to build on the "always connected" smartphone experience. Connected cars -- think built-in GPS, blue-tooth, and Wi-Fi -- may just be the most practical of the bunch, says Andy Gryc, QNX's automotive product marketing manager. Long commutes, coupled with a need for hands-free cell use and GPS, make the car prime real estate for hosting an infotainment unit. "The automobile," explains Gartner analyst Thilo Koslowski, "is the ultimate mobile device." Better technology and heightened user expectations are driving automakers to incorporate infotainment units -- essentially touchscreen dashboards -- into their standard models, too. By 2020 some 80% of new vehicles are expected to have built-in infotainment units, up from just 40% currently, predicts Koslowski.

????The significant role QNX may soon play in the auto industry would have been hard to predict at the time of the company's founding in 1980. For starters, co-founders Dan Dodge and Gordon Bell barely survived financially, a task made all the more difficult considering they didn't take venture capital funding. The duo routinely worked 20-hour days, and CEO Dodge, 58, was supported by his working wife; Bell, the COO who retired in 2004, lived with his parents during the company's early days in order to save money. QNX was originally designed for use in PCs, but as its operating system evolved in the late '90s, the software's flexibility slowly transitioned the company's focus toward other opportunities. This unintentional shift and successful deployment in so many industrial and consumer products helped differentiate QNX from other PC companies of the time like Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM (IBM). Nuclear power plants, hospitals, and casinos are just a few of the areas QNX software can be found. In 2009, QNX software was part of a Switzerland-based effort known as Solar Impulse that created a solar-powered airplane.??