Joby Completes First-Ever Fully Autonomous Flight Across the United States | Joby Aviation
www.jobyaviation.com
Aircraft equipped with Joby’s autonomy technology completes first-ever autonomous flight across the United States, arriving in North Carolina’s Outer Banks Aircraft covered 3,199 miles with zero control inputs from onboard safety pilot, including autonomous taxi, takeoff, cruise, and landing, supervised remotely from up to 2,323 miles away Milestone demonstrates real-world operational maturity, safety, and dual-use utility of Joby’s autonomy technology for commercial freight, emergency response, and defense logistics Historic low pass over Kitty Hawk honors the birthplace of modern aviation while validating flexible, low-cost autonomous access to remote and regional communities

“The aircraft, a converted Cessna Caravan, performed autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, route navigation, and landings under remote supervision from Joby’s Autonomy Headquarters in California and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, up to 2,323 miles away. The journey demonstrated the operational capabilities of Joby’s autonomy technology across a range of environments, supporting applications in commercial freight, medical transport, disaster response, and defense logistics.”

We can see 2 ways future air travel may get much cheaper now that electric powered flight is becoming a reality for smaller/mid-sized planes. Cheap fuel (electricity) & much lower staffing costs thanks to self-flying tech.

Will there one day be an airline that is 100% electric and only self-flying? Probably. This strikes me as a great option for people who live in more sparsely populated areas. They are not economical for the big airlines, but they may be for an all-electric self-flying airline.

Joby Completes First-Ever Fully Autonomous Flight Across the United States

  • hansolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
    2·
    5 hours ago

    Y’all really can’t seem to wrap your heads around autonomous small, electric-powered cargo flights?

    Shit, I really wanted to pitch large cargo drones as a startup around Pacific Island nations where humans genuinely aren’t needed, and are more like a risk of life just to deliver the mail.