It’s a big step toward the future of flight, which was accomplished right here in the Bay Area with technology developed by a local company.
Approximately 12 minutes elapsed as a Cessna 208B Caravan aircraft executed a takeoff, cruised through the air, and landed autonomously, devoid of any onboard personnel. This noteworthy feat in aviation transpired on November 21 at Hollister Municipal Airport in San Benito County, California, showcasing the remote capabilities of the globally renowned cargo plane. It was done by Reliable Robotics, a Mountain View, California-based startup that created the autonomation system for the aircraft. A remote pilot handled all the radio calls and monitored the airplane from Reliable’s control center about 50 miles away.
Reliable has been working on this technology for a while, and the company’s CEO, Robert Rose, says that the success of the November 21 flight is a milestone. The company plans to make the system available for commercial use by 2020 and then expand it to passenger aircraft later. It’s already been tested by two rival startups, Xwing and Merlin, using Cessna Caravans to transport cargo for UPS and Freightways New Zealand, respectively.
The companies are collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory on a program called AFWERX, launched in 2021 to explore the technology’s potential for military uses. This program is an accelerator that can help speed up the development of this sort of technology for the Air Force by providing it with resources and funding. The AFWERX team partnered with Reliable to develop this new Caravan system, which will be used on other cargo planes like the Boeing C-130J that the Air Force already uses for some of its missions.
As for the future, it’s hoped that the autonomous systems these companies are developing will eventually be able to fly and land airplanes on their own, with just a few commands from a human-crewed fighter jet. Such direct manned-unmanned teaming could be especially valuable in the case of a drone the size of a fighter jet that might be rocket-launched off an aircraft carrier and need to maneuver around hostile territory without imperiling military pilots.
The Navy recently tested an uncrewed aircraft that can do just that, launching and landing an X-47B drone off the deck of the USS Langley with a computer “brain” controlling its every move. The Navy hopes to integrate this type of aircraft into its fleet as a replacement for some of its older patrol planes, allowing it to carry out around-the-clock surveillance and even attack enemy targets in places too dangerous for human pilots to get to. It’s an impressive accomplishment for a pilotless machine, but it’s far from the only significant advancement in this field. Other notable examples include the first successful carrier-launched drone and the Pentagon’s first-ever manned-unmanned flight involving a jet as big as an F-16 Fighting Falcon.
