NVIDIA is trying to create a "safe version" of the Linux kernel that can meet functional safety certification requirements for safety-critical scenarios such as automobiles and robots, and is currently focusing on meeting the ASIL-B level of automotive functional safety standards. NVIDIA engineer Igor Stoppa gave a speech at the Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) earlier this month, pointing out the shortcomings of the upstream Linux kernel in safety-critical applications and the technical and process challenges surrounding ASIL certification.
Stoppa emphasized in the abstract of the speech that the route chosen by Nvidia deliberately avoids shifting the burden to upstream kernel maintainers and developers, hoping that they will not be forced to become functional safety experts, and does not want the kernel code to be "bobbled down" by a large number of lengthy behavior descriptions. He said that the goal is to achieve verifiable security of Linux in security application scenarios without disturbing the existing upstream development process, so he hopes to start a discussion on "how to coexist with upstream."
At the functional safety level, Nvidia is currently focused on meeting the ASIL-B integrity requirements of the automotive industry, which is also its priority around Linux kernel security. To this end, NVIDIA has made a series of adjustments in the kernel-related usage areas in order to pass ASIL-B certification, while trying to avoid overly "invasive" changes and reduce the impact on the mainline code.
One of NVIDIA's strategies is to limit security requirements to the parts of the kernel that really need to comply with security standards, rather than putting security compliance shackles on the entire huge Linux code base. This approach not only hopes to have the possibility of merging relevant codes upstream in the future, but also takes into account the reality that many upstream developers do not care about the security standards themselves and are unwilling to bear the burden of additional processes.
Developers and industry insiders who are interested in the feasibility of Linux in security-critical scenarios can currently learn more about NVIDIA's technical paths and ideas through the conference's public PDF slides and the complete video speech of LPC 2025.
The speech detailed how NVIDIA introduces verifiable security mechanisms to adapt to high-demand applications such as automotive electronics and robotics without reshaping the community governance model.