autonomous flight

Backed by Schmidt Futures, Cloudline raises $6M to take aerial autonomy green and mainstream

South African aerospace startup Cloudline has secured $6 million in funding as it aims to lead the global frontier of carbon emissions-free autonomous flight. Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic ventur

Anduril acquires Blue Force Technologies, the company behind the Fury unmanned fighter jet

Venture-backed defense giant Anduril Industries is acquiring Blue Force Technologies, the advanced design and engineering firm behind the “Fury” unmanned fighter jet, as the company looks to build

Autonomous flight startup Merlin Labs nabs $105M and US Air Force partnership

Autonomous flight is a grand challenge in aviation — and a gold mine. The first company to crack it at scale stands to reap handsome profits from transportation and logistics alone. In 2020, the siz

Archer Aviation reveals 2-seater demonstration aircraft, a ‘stepping stone’ toward commercial operations

Archer Aviation unveiled its autonomous electric two-seater aircraft dubbed “Maker” on Thursday, which it will use for testing as it works toward certification of a larger piloted five-sea

Autonomous aviation startup Xwing hits $400M valuation after latest funding round

Xwing has scored another win two months after it completed its first gate-to-gate autonomous demonstration flight of a commercial cargo aircraft. The company said Thursday it has raised $40 million at

Xwing plans short, regional flights for its autonomous cargo planes

The path to deploying commercial aircraft that can handle all aspects of flight without a pilot is long, winding, expensive and riddled with regulatory and technical hurdles. Marc Piette, the founder

Kitty Hawk ends Flyer program, shifts focus to once-secret autonomous aircraft

Kitty Hawk is shutting down its Flyer program, the aviation startup’s inaugural moonshot to develop an ultralight electric flying car designed for anyone to use. The company, backed by Google co

Autonomous aviation startup Xwing raises $10M to scale its software for pilotless flights

Autonomous aviation startup Xwing locked in a $10 million funding round before COVID-19 hit. Now the San Francisco-based startup is using the capital to hire talent and scale the development of its so

Air taxi company EHang flies autonomously in the US for the first time

Aerial passenger drone startup EHang flew its EHang 216 two-seat self-flying taxi fully autonomously in North Carolina last night, a first for the company both in the U.S. and North America. EHang, wh

Pyka and its autonomous, electric crop-spraying drone land $11M seed round

Modern agriculture involves fields of mind-boggling size, and spraying them efficiently is a serious operational challenge. Pyka is taking on the largely human-powered spray business with an autonomou

Skyryse shows off end-to-end autonomous flight technology with helicopter demonstration

Skyryse is a three-year-old transportation startup that is approaching the future of aviation from a different angle when compared to most. You often see startups building new kinds of aircraft, with

Watch a plane land itself truly autonomously for the first time

A team of German researchers have created an automatic landing system for small aircraft that lets them touch down not only without a pilot, but without any of the tech on the ground that lets other p

Boeing’s new R&D center focuses on autonomous flight

Flying cars are BS. But there is actually a chance that we’re on the cusp of a revolution in general aviation as startups and major players like Airbus are looking to modern technology to allow

Autonomous-aviation startup Xwing takes flight with $4 million in funding

Marc Piette had a revelation as he buzzed in and out of the Palo Alto Airport in pursuit of his pilot’s license. Instead of freedom, he saw restraint. He also saw potential. “It became pre

Boeing to acquire Aurora Flight Sciences in bet on autonomous flight

Boeing is acquiring Aurora Flight Sciences, a company that focuses on autonomous flight systems designed to make robot aircraft and vehicles a reality. Boeing says that its acquisition of Aurora will

Airbus on track to fly its electric aerial taxi in 2018

Airbus is looking to put its flying taxi in the air next year, confirmed CityAirbus chief engineer Marius Bebesel this week. The schedule is on track after CityAirbus conducted successful ground tests

Airbus and HAX create an accelerator program for flying taxi tech

Aeronautics industry giant Airbus is teaming up with hardware early-stage investment firm HAX to create a four-month accelerator program based in Shenzhen focused on a high-flying goal – “urba