Reliable Robotics, a developer of autonomous flight control systems retrofitted in fixed-wing aircraft, said Wednesday it has successfully completed a remotely piloted flight of a Cessna 208B Caravan commanded from a control center 50 miles away. The flight, which had no human safety pilot onboard, took place last month. The aircraft took off from Hollister Municipal Airport in California, just south of San Francisco Bay, and was controlled from Reliable’s Mountain View, California, headquarters. The flight took about 12 minutes from autotaxi to parking. Aviation experts expect that advanced automation will be first adopted at scale in the cargo sector, starting with small freighter aircraft and eventually transitioning to larger aircraft. Companies such as Reliable Robotics, Xwing and Merlin are building independent software stacks that can be integrated into Cessna flight control systems to allow regional cargo aircraft to take off, maneuver and land without human involvement. Remote piloting, which is a step toward autonomous flight systems, will allow more communities to benefit from air service, especially with pilots in short supply, they say. Reliable’s autopilot system automates all phases of flight, from taxi to takeoff and landing. It uses redundant hardware and software to automate flight control surfaces and engine controls, as well as redundant voice and data networks for secure air-to-ground connectivity, which enables remote aircraft command and radio management. The primary hurdle at this point is getting aviation authorities to validate that autopilot systems are safe and can be safely integrated into the national airspace system.
Full article : Reliable Robotics successfully flies autonomous Cessna 208B Caravan in its solo test.
