Joby Aviation today announced that an aircraft equipped with its autonomy technology has completed what it called the first-ever autonomous flight across the United States. The aircraft flew 3,199 miles with zero control inputs from its onboard safety pilot, concluding the eastbound leg of its month-long tour in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, near the site of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.
The aircraft, a converted Cessna Caravan, performed autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, route navigation, and landings under remote supervision from Joby’s Autonomy Headquarters in California and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, up to 2,323 miles away. The company said the trip demonstrated the operational capabilities of its autonomy technology across a range of environments, supporting applications in commercial freight, medical transport, disaster response and defense logistics.
By integrating an autonomous system onto an already-certified airframe, Joby offers a scalable path to autonomous air logistics. During the cross-country journey, the aircraft proved its ability to seamlessly integrate into high-density environments like Phoenix Deer Valley, one of the nation’s busiest general aviation airports, while rerouting around severe weather and thunderstorms in real time without prior airport familiarity.
Following its transcontinental arrival, the J208 flew a historic low pass near the First Flight Monument at Kitty Hawk, honoring the site where Orville and Wilbur Wright ushered in the age of powered flight in 1903.
The aircraft will now begin its return westbound journey, including stops in Raleigh (KRDU), Fredericksburg/Washington, D.C. (KRMN), Louisville (KSDF), Wichita (KICT), Oklahoma City (KOKC), Salt Lake City (KSLC), and Portland (KPDX).
