BlackBerry Ltd (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BB) is one stock that could benefit significantly from the self-driving revolution. On Wednesday, it was announced that Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) had selected the tech company’s QNX operating system to integrate with its driverless system, Apollo.
BlackBerry has been working on its QNX software so that it can integrate with autonomous driving systems developed by car manufacturers, which is ultimately the “brain” of how self-driving cars will be designed to function.
This is a big win for a company that has been working to redesign itself from a brand that once prided itself on its cell phones. BlackBerry has shifted its focus onto software, and its QNX technology is a big piece of that. However, the challenge for the company is bringing its sales back to where they were when its handhelds were flying off the shelves.
BlackBerry has seen sales decline in each of the past three years. Since 2014, sales of $6.8 billion have dropped to just $1.3 billion this past fiscal year, a drop of more than 80%. The company has also been unable to post a profit during these years as well.
However, investors have shown hope in the company, with its share price rising more than 60% in the past year. BlackBerry is making the right bets on cybersecurity and on autonomous driving, and that could pay off significantly for investors. The company still has a long way to go, but its future looks to more promising than it did a few years ago.
