“Cessna has made 3,000 Caravans — it’s the most popular cargo plane you’ve never heard of,” says Robert Rose, CEO of Reliable Robotics. Reliable Robotics is now working with the Federal Aviation Administration to certify its technology for commercial operations, and expects that process to be complete in as little as two years. According to Rose, remotely controlled regional cargo planes would have positive effects on both safety and the ongoing pilot shortage. Merlin Labs and XWing, both in the US, and Volant in the UK, are among the companies developing similar systems to Reliable Robotics, with a similar attention to the cargo sector. “Two of them are dealing with the unexpected and fitting into the existing air traffic control system.

Source: CNN December 21, 2023 19:47 UTC