California's Reliable Robotics is celebrating successful autonomous flights with two Cessna aircraft – including a popular cargo plane – in the latest milestone for self-flying planes.
Flight testing first began in 2018 with a Cessna 172 piston aircraft typically used as a pilot training aircraft for general aviation. The company – lead by former SpaceX and Tesla engineers – was able to program the aircraft to taxi, take-off, and land with just the push of a button and no pilot at the controls.
Once the Cessna 172 proved itself with a fully unmanned gate-to-gate flight in September 2019, a larger aircraft was brought in to test the technology on a larger scale. A Cessna 208 turboprop cargo aircraft owned by FedEx Express, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, was used and just completed its first automated landing in June.
Mastering the science behind self-flying planes will pave the way for unmanned commercial flights but also urban air mobility using autonomous vertical take-off and land aircraft to connect cities. Reliable Robotics to date has brought in $33.5 billion in funding to support the project.
The race is on across the industry as aircraft manufacturers like Airbus are dedicated resources to make it a reality. Recent autonomous flights using an A350-1000 XWB is prompting the builder's Silicon Valley incubator to acquire an aircraft that will collect data to power future automated flights.
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