Reliable Robotics' autonomous Cessna 208B Caravan completes 1,375 nm cross-country flight to Kennedy Space Center
Reliable Robotics says its upgraded Cessna 208B Caravan has completed the company's first autonomous cross-country flight. The two-day, 1,375-nautical-mile trip left Albuquerque, stopped in Shreveport, Louisiana, and ended with an autonomous landing at Florida's Kennedy Space Center for the UP.Summit transportation event.
According to the company, its Reliable Autonomy System handled taxi, takeoff, cruise and landing under instrument flight rules while carrying hundreds of pounds of payload. A remote pilot at its Mountain View, California headquarters talked to air traffic control and commanded the plane in real time. Reliable says the pilot on board made zero interventions, including in low-visibility weather.
These are company claims; no flight data or dates were released, and the system is still awaiting FAA certification. Joby flew its own autonomous Caravan coast to coast in September, Scientific American reports. Footage: one cockpit photo, no video.
More on drones.
About the footage: Photo only: Reliable released a cockpit photo with the announcement and no flight video. Per the company, the flight was autonomous with a remote pilot commanding and an onboard pilot who never intervened.
Sources
- Reliable Robotics (Business Wire): Reliable Robotics Completes Autonomous Cross-Country Flight
- Reliable Robotics: Reliable Robotics Completes Autonomous Cross-Country Flight
- Scientific American: Self-flying cargo planes are coming. Can they be safe with no one aboard?
- Reliable Robotics (Business Wire): Reliable Robotics, Sunport Complete First Autonomous Flights Under Advanced Air Mobility Pilot Program
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Summarized by Servospace from the sources above, drafted with AI help and checked against those sources before publishing. Claims are the companies' or outlets' unless we say otherwise. How we work.