Is it possible to run Hailo-8 and Hailo-10H concurrently on a single bare-metal Ubuntu host?

Hi everyone,

I am building a retail analytics edge device and currently have an Edge PC running bare-metal Ubuntu with two available M.2 M-key slots. My goal is to run two different AI tasks simultaneously using Docker containers:

  1. A Hailo-8 module for continuous object detection (NVR via Frigate).

  2. A Hailo-10H (8GB) module for GenAI/VLM tasks (e.g., running Qwen).

From my understanding of the documentation, the Hailo-8 requires the 4.x PCIe driver branch, while the Hailo-10H requires the 5.x driver branch. Since both branches compile the kernel module under the exact same name (hailo_pci.ko), the Linux kernel cannot load both drivers simultaneously on the same bare-metal host.

I have a few questions regarding this limitation:

  1. Kernel Module Co-existence: Is there any supported or undocumented workaround to compile and rename one of the kernel modules (e.g., hailo_pci_v4.ko and hailo_pci_v5.ko) so they can co-exist and load on the same Ubuntu host OS?

  2. Roadmap: Is there a unified PCIe driver on the roadmap that will eventually support both the Hailo-8 and Hailo-10/15 device families on the same bare-metal machine?

  3. Hypervisor Workaround: If a bare-metal setup is strictly impossible, can you confirm if hypervisor isolation (e.g., using Proxmox and passing each M.2 slot through via VFIO to separate VMs) is currently the only viable way to utilize both chips on the same motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any insights or guidance!

Please have a look at the HailoRT User Guide section 3.4. Coexistence with Hailo-10H on the Same Host.