Xwing Commences FAA Certification For Autonomous Operations Xwing's 'Superpilot' autonomous flight control system has formerly commenced Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. The system is installed and intended for the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan and because of this as it is an existing platform they are able to apply for certification as a standard-category airplane. This helps make the process a bit easier rather than having to operated under a special-category. Initially the idea is for autonomous cargo delivery but eventually there will be a conversion towards pilotless passenger flights on this platform.
With the granting of permission to commence autonomous operations testing for the FAA it became the first Cessna cargo standard-category large uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) to receive official project designation from the FAA. The 'Superpilot' system relies on Artificial Intelligence and heavy machine learning to help inform its own decision-making processes. Xwing has been operating a Part 135 air carrier service since 2021 which so far involved around 400 weekly cargo delivery flights for UPS using a fleet of unmodified Cessna Caravans. The information and data garnered from these flights are helping to essentially teach the 'Superpilot' which will go a long way for the eventual pilotless operations Xwing is going after. For more information: Xwing 292 Ivy Street, STE. A San Francisco, CA 94102 www.xwing.com ***
