Many Bay Area residents are already familiar with driverless cars, but one Silicon Valley company is aiming to take the concept a step further with pilotless planes.
Two weeks ago in Hollister, a Cessna Caravan airplane both took off and landed without anyone in the cockpit. It wasn’t actually pilotless — but the pilot did their job from 50 miles away, sitting at the headquarters of Reliable Robotics in Mountain View.
Reliable Robotics is the company behind this automation system. It’s CEO, Robert Rose, started it after working at SpaceX.
He believes the company’s technology will allow for even more safety and autonomy in planes.
“That’s where technology like ours, that enables automated landing, automated takeoff, automated taxiing, is gonna go a long way to improve safety,” Rose said.
At this point, Reliable Robotics is mostly working to automate cargo and military aircraft. The idea of pilotless passenger planes is still a ways away from being reality, according to those who follow automated tech.
“You’re gonna see the market going, but it’s going to be going very slowly,” said San Jose State University Professor Ahmed Banafa. “Because of the government and because of the perception of the public.”
For those worried the technology will eliminate pilot jobs, Reliable Robotics argues that the opposite will be true. Not only will pilots be needed in the air, it says, but the technology will create a need for pilots who can remotely control planes on the ground.
The technology can be thought of as a more advanced autopilot, with pilots still ultimately in control but not abroad.
“We as a species, we as a nation possess the ability to put this more advanced level of automation into airplanes,” said Rose. “We just need to do it.”
Source: NBC Bay Area
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