“If all goes as planned, Reliable Robotics eventually won’t need any pilots on board its planes. It is among startups vying to revolutionize air travel by doing away with the need for human pilots on cargo, military and maybe even passenger aircraft. Autonomous flight is being tested at companies from giant aircraft makers to small startups.
For now, cargo and military flights are the focus. Reliable recently signed a $17 million contract with the U.S. Air Force that involves testing autonomous cargo flights. Flying-taxi maker Joby Aviation also recently tested its own pilotless Cessna for the Air Force over the Pacific Ocean.
Boeing and Airbus, the world’s leading makers of large commercial jets, have separately worked on introducing more automation in their aircraft, and both say the aim is to improve safety. The two companies have also examined fully autonomous flight, but say they aren’t working on commercial-jet designs that don’t include pilots in cockpits.”
From Wall Street Journal.