Joby Aviation completes first fully autonomous flight across the US
Joby Aviation says it has completed the first fully autonomous flight across the United States using a converted Cessna Caravan, flying from California to North Carolina without pilot control input.
Air taxi startup Joby Aviation has announced what it calls the first fully autonomous flight to cross the United States, using an aircraft equipped with its own autonomy system.
The flight departed from Buchanan Field Airport in California and ended at Dare County Regional Airport near the Outer Banks in North Carolina, covering roughly 3,199 miles. According to Joby, the aircraft — a converted Cessna Caravan — handled taxiing, takeoff, cruising and landing entirely on its own, with no control inputs from the onboard safety pilot.
While a human monitor remained aboard, Joby also kept remote oversight of the flight from its headquarters in California and from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
What's next
Having completed the eastbound leg, the autonomous aircraft will now fly back westward, making stops along the way in cities including Raleigh, North Carolina, Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon.
Joby is best known for its piloted, fully electric air taxis, which it began demonstrating in New York City in April and plans to launch commercially later this year. The latest autonomous flight could open the door for the company to expand beyond urban air taxi service.
Joby said its autonomous flight technology can be retrofitted into existing aircraft and applied to uses such as commercial freight transport, emergency response and defense logistics.
