QNX Research Finds Software is the Biggest Bottleneck to Robotics Innovation
The Inside the Robot: Architecture Benchmark Report examines how robotics development is changing as physical AI accelerates and systems become more software‑driven, AI‑enabled, and increasingly deployed alongside humans at work and in daily life. Based on a survey of 1,000 developers worldwide, the research reveals the most significant inhibitors to progress, the gap between system ambitions and current capabilities, and developers’ views on the industry’s future.
Robotics teams are clearly pushing toward more intelligent, autonomous systems, but the data shows they are also running up against the very real limits of architectures that were never designed for this level of complexity or accountability. Developers consistently cite four core challenges: integration complexity, certification delays, functional safety risks in human‑machine interaction, and ensuring predictable behavior when it matters most. The good news is that these are all solvable problems and by focusing on stronger software foundations, developers can set the stage for faster innovation and a new generation of safe, reliable, and highly autonomous robots.
Jim Hirsch
Global VP of Sales, General Embedded Markets at QNX
