The American company Xwing announced the completion of the world’s first aircraft flight under full control of the autopilot from taxiing along the airfield to takeoff, flight, landing and taxiing to a parking lot. For the demonstration, a standard Cessna Grand Caravan 208B aircraft was used, which promises to provide robotic capabilities to any aircraft of this class. A new era of aviation is on the doorstep. There will be no more shortage of pilots.

Cessna Grand Caravan 208B in automatic flight. Image source: Xwing

Xwing has developed AutoFlight software, some of which automatically steers the aircraft, while others work in the ground control room, from where the operator observes the progress of the flight. One operator can monitor multiple autonomous aircraft, intervening only in critical situations. The successful demonstration flight of the robotic “Cessna” showed that the automation copes with control perfectly at all stages of the flight.

According to Xwing developers, autonomous flights will be the first to begin in the field of cargo transportation on regional routes up to 500 miles. This is pushed by a shortage of pilots, and by 2025, 34 open vacancies for this job are expected in the United States, and problems with logistics, especially in the field of e-commerce. Only after the formation of autonomous aviation in the field of cargo transportation, we can expect a widespread introduction of autonomous flights of passenger aircraft.

By the way, a recent study by ANSYS, cited by the source, showed that 70% of Americans will not be afraid to fly airplanes with autopilots, although in recent years the same Boeing company has severely undermined confidence in autonomous systems on board aircraft, in particular the Boeing 737 MAX. … The future of autonomous aviation is a fact.