Autonomous flight

Through a novel algorithm that can plot a flight path with great efficiency, scientists at the University of Zurich are now claiming to have demonstrated an autonomous drone that can beat human pilots in a race.

The US Air Force has flight tested the Skyborg combat drone's Autonomy Core System for the first time. The "brain" of the autonomous Skyborg was installed in a Kratos UTAP-22 tactical uncrewed vehicle, and carried out a two-hour-and-10-minute flight.

Airbus is expanding the capabilities of its Flightlab helicopter designed to test out next-generation aviation technologies, by incorporating some advanced hardware geared toward autonomous flight, including LiDAR sensors from Luminar.

UK company Autonomous Flight has been working on eVTOL concepts for some years now, with several prototypes already flown. Now the company has revealed a six-seat air shuttle called the Y6S Plus that uses an interesting coaxial tricopter design.

China's air mobility company EHang has added another location to its autonomous air taxi roster with the launch of an aerial sightseeing trial in partnership with real estate company Greenland Hong Kong.

EHang is on a mission to get its autonomous air taxis into the air around the globe. After flying into Spain earlier this year, the air mobility firm has now been granted its first trial flight permit in the European Union – but it's not in Seville.

Boeing has successfully carried out tests of its autonomous flight platform involving five high-performance, pilotless surrogate jets operating as a full team of five at speeds of up to 167 mph.

Looking to make its mark in the world of space launches is US-based firm Aevum, which has just unveiled a massive drone called the Ravn X that is designed to act as an autonomous, airborne launch system for small satellites.

Chinese air mobility company EHang has completed three test flights in South Korea to show off the passenger transport, emergency response and air tourism potential of its all-electric two-passenger autonomous aerial vehicle, the EHang 216.

Although there are now a few different crop-spraying multicopter drones, fixed-wing drones are faster and have a longer battery range. That's where the recently US-certified autonomous electric Pelican crop duster comes into the picture.

When we hear about VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, we usually think of passenger-carrying "air taxis." The autonomous Nuuva, however, is being designed to give cargo-carrying helicopters a run for their money.

Autopilot has been around longer than you think – the first daredevil public demos happened back in 1914. But today's airliners still need pilots, and Airbus has only recently completed testing on the first autonomous taxi, takeoff and landing system.