BlackBerry QNX report finds software architecture is the biggest bottleneck to robotics innovation, with 27% of developers citing it versus 16% naming hardware

QNX surveyed 1,000 developers worldwide and released the Inside the Robot: Architecture Benchmark Report, revealing that 27 percent identify software architecture and integration as their biggest performance bottleneck, compared with 16 percent who point to hardware. Looking ahead, 85 percent expect software to play an even greater role over the next three to five years.

More than four in five respondents (83 percent) report their systems are already deployed alongside humans. Nearly all (95 percent) say deterministic, real-time execution (predictable, guaranteed behavior) is important to the systems they develop, yet 91 percent run these workloads at least in part on general-purpose operating systems not designed for real-time or safety-critical use.

Two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) report project delays due to certification processes, with delays rising to around 70 percent in the UK and Germany. Cybersecurity and functional safety standards are cited as most challenging by 51 percent and 49 percent of respondents respectively. Only 29 percent feel 'very confident' in their ability to make safe, predictable decisions in real-world environments, even though 89 percent say AI-enabled robots will be critical to their organization's strategy over the next three to five years.