AI Collaboration Accelerates Path to Autonomous Flight

Joby Aviation announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, becoming the only aviation launch partner for the new NVIDIA IGX Thor platform. The industrial-grade system, powered by NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, is designed to support next-generation physical AI applications. The partnership will advance development of Joby’s autonomous flight technology, Superpilot, for both military and civil platforms.

Joby’s autonomy test aircraft uses a range of perception sensors to analyze its environment. By integrating NVIDIA’s IGX Thor compute platform with Superpilot, the aircraft can enable real-time autonomous functions for safety-critical applications.

“The autonomous systems under development at Joby are poised to complement human intelligence by providing speed, precision, and stamina beyond what a person alone is capable of,” said Gregor Veble Mikić, Flight Research Lead at Joby. “To achieve this, an aircraft needs a powerful onboard computer that can interpret extraordinary amounts of information to make decisions in real-time.”

NVIDIA’s support for industry-recognized functional safety standards on the IGX Thor platform allows Joby to pursue certifiable autonomy as the Federal Aviation Administration advances airspace integration. The platform supports onboard compute for mission management, radar and perception processing, and sensor fusion to enhance environmental awareness and situational reliability.

Additional applications include predictive system health monitoring, which allows aircraft to identify maintenance needs in advance, and “digital twin” modeling, which refines aircraft performance through continuous data collection.

According to Joby, this collaboration establishes a foundation for advancing certified autonomous flight and developing capabilities that improve operational safety and mission performance in future aviation systems.