The Chrysler Crossfire is a sporty two-seater car that was made between 2004 and 2008. It has a unique design and is known for being fun to drive, but it also has some parts that come from a more expensive Mercedes-Benz car, which makes it interesting in discussions about car prices and trade.
Car
Nissan QX 60
The Nissan QX 60 is a luxury SUV that offers a lot of space and comfort for families. The 2026 version has some new updates that make it even better.
The Nissan Pathfinder is a family-friendly SUV that can handle rough terrains and is good for outdoor adventures. It has a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo.
Cyber security means keeping cars safe from hackers who might try to break into their computer systems. It's important as cars get more technology and internet features.
CVE is a system that names and describes security problems in software. It helps companies know about issues that could make their systems unsafe.
LIVE
Hi everyone and welcome to the October 24th, 2025 episode of the Automotive News Canada Podcast. I'm your host, Greg Lason, the digital and mobile editor at Automotive News Canada. Coming to you from just outside Windsor, Ontario, the Automotive Capital of Canada. Today on the show we hear from Ottawa-based QNX Chief Operating Officer John Wall. He recently spoke with my US colleague Molly Boygon on the Automotive News Shift Podcast.
He also talked about how software recalls are changing vehicle tech development and more, but first a look at some of the top Canadian Automotive stories of the week. Another week, another setback at an idled Canadian auto assembly plant. General Motors this week killed its bright drop electric commercial van line, and that means about 1200 employees at the Cammy Assembly.
Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario will not return to work. GM tells Automotive News Canada its weighing quote, a wide range of options for the plant. Meanwhile, industry minister Melanie Jolie says she's met with the head of GM Canada to discuss the plant, which has been idle since the spring. She also says the federal government along with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Uniform National President, Lana Payne, are set to create an automotive response group.
In retail news, Nissan Canada says it started importing what it describes as limited volumes of the updated 2026 infinity QX 60. This despite still facing steep tariffs on US built models, the vehicle is caught in the crossfire of the US and Canada's reciprocal 25% auto tariffs.
Nissan suspended production of the models for Canada in May after building up inventory. Nissan builds the QX 60 at an assembly plant in Tennessee. It also assembles the Nissan Pathfinder, Marano, and Frontier there. Those vehicles are not being imported into Canada.
Finally, in awards news, Automotive News Canada recently honored the 40 best dealerships to work for in Canada. The program recognizes dealers who have created a great environment for their employees. You can find all 40 winners on our homepage. Just click the awards tab to read all about each and everyone.
And that's a look at some of the top Canadian automotive stories of the week. We now hear from QNX Chief Operating Officer John Wall.
So we are here to talk today about a very interesting report under the hood as DV developer report, which had some really interesting stuff in there. Before we dive into specifics, I'd love to know what your main takeaway from the report was.
I think the main takeaway from the report is it's kind of a validation of what I've been seeing in the industry. It highlighted a lot of the areas of concern that I've been seeing over the last four or five years.
And one of those areas of concern that kind of kept coming up over and over again was cyber security. I found that really interesting. So the respondents in the survey identified cyber security regulations as the most challenging regulations.
While at the same time, their biggest concern for the future of automotive software development was security threats and their perceived biggest risk to STVs were cyber security vulnerability.
So how do you kind of think about the tension between the regulations that people view as an impediment to development and the current concerns that they have related security and safety?
Yeah, so I think when you think of safety, which has always been a priority and has been around for a long time.
It's difficult and it makes development difficult, but it's something that tends to be static. Once you've reached a certain level of safety, you know, you have a load that you can put in the car and that you feel pretty comfortable that barring a major bug something you missed that golden load of software for the vehicle is going to be good.
I think the difference with cyber security is you now have evolving threats to software. So you may be building software with components that today are considered secure and have no CVEs associated with them.
Then somebody reveals a hack months after you've delivered your software and you now find that there's a serious vulnerability within your vehicle, which obviously compromises not just security, but it compromises safety as well because the concept of safety does not take into account bad actors changing your software.
Safety assumes that the software isn't going to change. So I think that that's a big challenge because a new regulations have come in and we've seen this in other industries such as medical and others where you know if a device has a certain number of CVEs that are considered serious enough that device might be taken out of use until those issues are resolved.
So it brings in a very dynamic nature to updating software and the need for constant monitoring of the systems.
And so now you'll see that car companies, software companies have security groups whose jobs are to constantly monitor for CVEs and for tax and then you have to mitigate them.
And for those who don't know what a CVE is, what is that acronym?
So CVE is basically common vulnerability and so it's assessed based on how serious the security threat is and it has ratings and obviously the higher the rating, the more serious it's considered.
And depending at what level the CVE is rated, it's something that has to be mitigated immediately whether that mitigation is turning off function within the vehicle or you know being able to provide a patch ASAP to address the issue.
You mentioned the sort of evolving way that developers have to approach security and there was a part of the survey that found that recalls have changed the way that developers are approaching approaching development.
And I guess I wonder if you took that to mean what you described sort of the concert monitoring or if there's some other change that developers have to make given the frequency of recalls that have happened in the auto industry related to software and just the sheer number of features and capabilities that are now software enabled.
Yeah, I think that the recalls obviously I don't have an exhaustive list of the recalls but the recalls that I've seen that have been you know high profile have typically been more around safety based issues such as rearview cameras that may freeze or rearview cameras that may drop some frames.
Obviously if you're dropping frames, you may miss something if you're if you're backing up, so I think what the recalls really highlight in my opinion is that the car companies need to start standardizing on a platform that evolves as opposed to constantly changes and I think that that's been a very and I think you and I've talked a bit this Molly before that.
That you know there's been a propensity in the automotive industry to restart restart it that's been kind of the nature of how software has been done in the vehicle you go to a tier one you give them a set of specs.
They build the hardware they build the software to your spec they deliver to you you enjoy that in the vehicle hopefully you'll get four or five good years out of that and then the next time you want to build the next system you go to a different tier one.
I saw I think where we're headed on that front and this does include security as well obviously but is really to start extending platforms and to to really have something that's much closer to what you would see in the handset which is iOS that evolves Android that evolves so you're not reinventing the wheel all the time you're refining as opposed to rebuilding and I think that.
A lot of the recalls have to do with things that are not evolving that things that are constantly changing or being redone.
I'd like to thank john for his time and Molly for conducting the interview you can hear the full conversation between Molly and john on the latest automotive news shift podcast and that's available now wherever you get your podcasts.
If you'd like to be a guest on this show have a suggestion or simply want to comment email me at glason at auto news dot com.
And remember you can listen to all our previous podcasts on Spotify iTunes Google Play or on our website automotive news dot c a just scroll to the podcast hub in the middle of the home page.
And don't forget you can follow automotive news Canada on X where we are at auto news Canada and you can find me there too under at glason ANC.
Finally you can find us on LinkedIn just search for automotive news Canada that does it for this episode of the automotive news Canada podcast we hope you'll join us next time so long everybody.
About this episode
Highlights from the week in Canadian automotive news include General Motors' decision to halt its BrightDrop electric van line, affecting 1,200 jobs in Ontario. QNX COO John Wall discusses the evolving challenges of cybersecurity in automotive software, emphasizing the need for constant monitoring and the impact of software recalls on development practices. Wall advocates for a shift towards standardized platforms that evolve over time, rather than starting from scratch with each new model. The conversation underscores the tension between regulatory compliance and the rapid pace of technological change in the industry.
GM kills BrightDrop; QX60 imports start again; Best Dealerships to Work For. Plus QNX Chief Operating Officer John Wall talks about cybersecurity and how software recalls are changing vehicle tech development.
