Joby’s plane completes 3,200-mile fully autonomous flight

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Joby Aviation says a converted Cessna Caravan fitted with its autonomy system has completed the first fully autonomous flight across the United States, covering 3,199 miles from Concord, California to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The aircraft taxied, took off, navigated and landed itself at every stop, while the onboard safety pilot made zero control inputs.

A plane just crossed the entire United States, and the pilot on board never touched the controls.

This is Joby Aviation’s converted Cessna Caravan, and it covered 3,199 miles flying itself.

It left Concord, California, and hopped through Phoenix, Fort Worth and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.

The last stop was North Carolina’s Outer Banks, right next to Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903.

At every stop, the software did the work. It taxied, took off, navigated and landed on its own.

It even rerouted around bad weather in real time and slotted into busy airports with regular traffic.

A safety pilot sat on board the whole way. Joby says they made zero control inputs.

Meanwhile, a remote team supervised from California and South Carolina, as far as 2,323 miles away.

The brain behind it comes from Xwing, an autonomy startup Joby bought in 2024. It had already logged over 400 flights and 800 automated flight hours before this trip.

So why would an air taxi company fly a cargo plane? Because freight, medical supplies, disaster response and the military are where autonomy can pay off first.

And the plane isn’t done yet. It’s now on its way back west, with more stops planned.

a month ago

Innovation

Joby’s plane completes 3,200-mile fully autonomous flight

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