Reliable Robotics says the FAA has accepted its certification plans for the autonomous flight control system it plans to install on aircraft to enable remotely piloted operations under a supplemental type certificate (STC).

According to Reliable Robotics, its system can enable fully autonomous gate-to-gate operations through continuous autopilot engagement and an advanced navigation system. “Continuous autopilot engagement” is a term the FAA has used to distinguish the system from traditional autopilots, most of which cannot be used for taxi, takeoff, and landing.

“You get on the plane, you turn on the battery, and then you turn the autopilot on, and everything else is done through the autopilot, including engine start,” Reliable Robotics co-founder and CEO Robert Rose told FutureFlight. “All of the checklists are processed automatically through the system, and you don't turn the autopilot off until you're back on the ground at the destination airport and you've taxied to your parking spot and the shuts the engine off.”

In the near term, Reliable Robotics says this technology could enable safe single-pilot operations as early as next year. Eventually, the company aims to certify its system for remotely piloted operations with no crew on board.

Rose said he expects to have the first STC approved for installations in the next 18 to 24 months. He noted that while it is difficult to predict how long it will take regulators to approve remotely piloted, uncrewed flights, he believes it could happen by the end of this decade.

Reliable Robotics’ first STC will cover the installation of its autopilot system in Cessna 208 Caravan single-engine turboprops, and it intends to make the system available for more types of aircraft in the future. The Mountain View, California-based company has already tested the system extensively in the Caravan as well as a Cessna 172, flying from its test base at San Martin Airport near San Jose.

The company has been awarded contracts with the U.S. Air Force and NASA to design, develop, and test autonomous flight capabilities, and to study the safe integration of uncrewed aircraft in the National Airspace System.

The FAA’s acceptance of Reliable Robotics’ certification plans marks the completion of the third of five stages in the FAA’s certification process for the STC. First, the company had to come to an agreement with the FAA on a G-1 certification basis, which they wrapped up in August 2022.

In the second stage of the certification process, the FAA must approve the means of compliance, or G-2 issue papers, which detail how the company will comply with the rules defined in its G-1 certification basis. Rose said the FAA has accepted nearly all of the means of compliance Reliable Robotics has put forth in the G-2 issue papers. “It’s almost done,” he said. “There's a few details that I think are more bureaucratic in nature that we're working through with the FAA.”

Continuous Autopilot Consists of Multiple Elements

The company’s autopilot involves both software and hardware, most of which it has developed in-house. Its flight control system consists of three flight computers that control two sets of actuators on each of the primary flight control surfaces. Its navigation system uses a redundant suite of advanced sensors, including radar altimeters, magnetometers, and GPS units.

While the company has not revealed many details about the various sensors in its system, Rose said it was inspired by systems used in the space industry. Rose and several of his colleagues at Reliable Robots are former SpaceX engineers.

To test out its new technology and gather valuable flight data, Reliable Robotics has launched its own cargo airline, which it recently named Reliable Airlines, under a Part 135 operator’s certificate. Reliable Airlines has a fleet of five Cessna planes it uses to deliver cargo for FedEx in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area.

“It was important for us to stand up this airline from scratch so that we could get a head start on modifying all of the operational procedures that an airline is going to need to have in order to be able to run the [autopilot] system,” Rose said.

Although Reliable Robotics will initially use its autonomous flight system for cargo operations, it could also be used for passenger flights. “There's nothing in the certification that says that we can only use this for cargo applications,” Rose said.

Reliable Robotics isn’t the only company working to certify self-flying airplanes. Rivaling company Xwing recently began the FAA approval process for its “Superpilot” autonomous flight control system in the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, which it says is the first standard-category large uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) to receive official project designation from the regulator. Boston-based Merlin is also working on a similar autopilot system, and new Canadian cargo airline start-up Ribbit is preparing to conduct autonomous flight trials in northern Canada.

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