QNX partners with Nvidia to advance safety critical edge AI

QNX, a division of BlackBerry Limited, has announced an expansion of its collaboration with Nvidia to enable developers to build and deploy next‑generation, safety‑critical edge AI systems on Nvidia IGX Thor. 

The expanded relationship sees QNX OS for Safety 8.0 integrated with Nvidia IGX Thor and Halos Safety Stack, combining QNX’s deterministic real‑time operating system with Nvidia’s functional safety platform to support regulated, AI‑enabled systems across robotics, medical technologies, industrial applications and more, according to a press release.

Nvidia IGX Thor is designed to support the demanding compute, functional safety, and reliability requirements of edge AI systems deployed in regulated environments, from autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to humanoids, surgical robotics, medical imaging, and industrial automation platforms. 

When combining Nvidia IGX Thor Halos Safety Stack with QNX OS for Safety 8.0, developers can consolidate real‑time controls and safety concepts on a deterministic, microkernel‑based RTOS while using Nvidia accelerated compute for AI‑driven capabilities such as perception, planning, and decision‑making. This unified mixed-criticality approach consolidates system architectures, supports safety certification processes, and enables rapid, scalable development from early prototypes through production deployment, the press release said.

“As robotics, medical, and industrial systems become more autonomous and software defined, safety and determinism cannot be afterthoughts,” said John Wall, President, QNX. “Integrating QNX OS for Safety 8.0 with Nvidia IGX Thor and Nvidia Halos Safety Stack brings together a trusted real‑time safety foundation and a powerful functional safety platform for edge AI. This expanded collaboration builds on our work with the Nvidia DRIVE AGX Thor Development Kit and extends the same proven architecture from automotive into the next wave of regulated, intelligent systems.”