Joby Aviation Partners with Nvidia to Advance Autonomous Flight

Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) rose in early trading following news of a collaboration with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to develop advanced autonomous flight technology.
The partnership makes Joby the only aviation launch partner for Nvidia’s new IGX Thor platform, purpose-built for high-performance “physical AI” applications.

Partnership Overview

Nvidia revealed several new partnerships this week, including Uber and Lucid, but Joby stands as its sole aviation partner.
The IGX Thor platform supports functional safety standards recognized by industry regulators, enabling Joby to work toward certifiable autonomy for both defense and commercial aviation.
The collaboration aligns with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) ongoing push to modernize U.S. airspace and enable autonomous flight operations.

Enhancing Flight Safety and Efficiency

By integrating Nvidia’s technology, Joby expects to improve:

Autonomous mission management
Radar and perception processing
Predictive system health monitoring

Gregor Veble Mikić, Joby’s flight research lead, emphasized the scale of the challenge:

“Autonomous cars have showcased the ability to interpret large volumes of data to make split-second decisions. For an aircraft, the compute power needed for autonomy is similarly high, but also needs to meet even higher levels of design rigor to achieve certification for operation in controlled airspace.”

Expanding Nvidia’s Physical AI Ecosystem

Beyond Joby, Japan’s Hitachi Rail has also adopted the IGX Thor platform, highlighting Nvidia’s growing influence across transportation sectors.
With applications spanning planes, trains, and automobiles, Nvidia continues to strengthen its position as a foundational technology provider for the emerging era of AI-driven physical systems.