Joby Aviation has completed what it describes as the first fully autonomous flight across the United States, using a converted Cessna Caravan fitted with its autonomy technology. The 3,199-mile eastbound journey ended at Dare County Regional Airport in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, with zero control inputs from the onboard safety pilot during taxi, takeoff, cruise, route navigation and landing.
The aircraft, identified as the J208, departed Concord, California, and stopped in Phoenix, Fort Worth and at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina before reaching North Carolina. Remote supervision came from Joby’s autonomy headquarters in California and from Shaw Air Force Base, with oversight reported from as far as 2,323 miles away.
The flight formed part of Joby’s month-long Electric Skies tour and was used to demonstrate the company’s autonomy stack beyond its eVTOL air-taxi work. Joby positioned the system for potential use in freight, medical transport, disaster response and defence logistics, while the route also included autonomous handling of changing conditions, including weather-related rerouting.