Joby Aviation is joining forces with Nvidia to boost the capabilities of its Superpilot autonomous flight technology by leveraging the new Nvidia IGX Thor platform.
Nvidia has also named Joby as its exclusive aviation launch partner for the platform.
The partnership is expected to facilitate the certification of autonomous operations for near-term military use and future civil deployment. This follows ongoing developments by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding national airspace.
Built on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture, the Thor platform will be used to further develop Superpilot for both defence and civil aviation applications.
With the IGX Thor platform, Joby is expected to support a range of automated flight functions.
The Nvidia platform will allow Joby’s aircraft to conduct real-time, on-board processing of flight missions, including route management and adaptation to changing weather conditions or instructions from air traffic control.
This capability also covers responses to unforeseen events through integrated human-machine collaboration.
Data from radar, LiDAR, and vision sensors will be processed on board to enable accurate environmental awareness and navigation.
The new computing platform further supports sensor fusion, which combines data from multiple sources to provide reliable state estimation and situational awareness in complex operating environments.
Additional features currently in development include predictive system health monitoring, which enables early detection of maintenance needs, as well as digital twin models that gather operational data to support mission planning and optimise performance.
Joby flight research lead Gregor Veble Mikić said: “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.
“To achieve this, an aircraft needs a powerful onboard computer that can interpret extraordinary amounts of information to make decisions in real-time.”
Recently, Joby conducted a series of public demonstration flights with its all-electric aircraft at the California International Airshow in Salinas, flying between Marina and Salinas airports.
