Joby Aviation has completed what it describes as the first autonomous flight across the United States, using a converted Cessna Caravan fitted with its autonomy system. The 3,199-mile eastbound trip ended in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, near Kitty Hawk, with zero control inputs from the onboard safety pilot.
The flight was supervised remotely from Joby’s facilities in California and at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, reaching as far as 2,323 miles away. The aircraft handled taxiing, takeoff, cruise, route changes for weather and landing autonomously during the journey.
The demonstration formed part of Joby’s Electric Skies tour and was presented as a technology showcase rather than a passenger service launch. The company is using the aircraft to test autonomy for potential freight, emergency response and defence applications, extending its work beyond electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft into fixed-wing operations.