Autonomous commercial flights will be a reality one day, but for now they belong to the realm of science fiction. The aeronautical sector works with the objective of carrying out large-scale unmanned operations, something that is currently being experimented with small aircraft, air taxis, on short, urban trips that are only capable of transporting very few people at a time.
The dream of transporting hundreds of passengers on planes without pilots is still far from becoming a reality. The aviation industry is advancing at a slower pace than other sectors, mainly land and rail, which have been experimenting with autonomous mobility for longer, but each advance it makes in this regard becomes a giant step given the complexity of the company.
The latest milestone carried out by the aeronautical industry in terms of autonomous navigation takes us to northern California (United States). Last November, a cargo plane completed the first autonomous flight, lasting approximately 80 kilometers and 12 minutes, including takeoff and landing operations at the Hollister airport. The flight, which took place absolutely normally, was carried out without anyone on board.
Engineers from Reliable Robotics, a North American startup founded in 2017 by former SpaceX and Tesla employees, were in charge of operating the flight controlled entirely by intelligent software. The aircraft that starred in this milestone is a Cessna 208B Grand Caravana, one of the most popular cargo aircraft in the world. It belongs to the FedEx courier firm and was previously modified to be able to fly with the remote operation system.
A remote operator took responsibility for supervising the flight, issuing commands to the plane using encrypted signals that were transmitted via satellite. In addition, he was responsible for communicating with air traffic controllers, as if he were in the cabin of the aircraft, despite being physically miles away.
The pilot guided the system to complete the different phases of the flight. In this way, the plane began to taxi autonomously along the runway and took off on its own. Once in the air, the Cessna made a 80-kilometer flight to return and land again at the Hollister airport completely autonomously. The flight lasted approximately 12 minutes.
Although the plane navigates completely autonomously, the pilot is responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft. He controls aspects such as airspeed, altitude and intended flight path and is trained to take control of the aircraft if any mishap arises. During this experimental flight he did not need to do so, since the entire process developed absolutely normally, following the planned plans.
Reliable Robotics has been working since 2019 on the development of this semi-automatic flight system, in collaboration with the US Federal Aviation Agency. The company's goal is to achieve certification to bring its technology to commercial aircraft, something it hopes to make a reality in just two years.
