eVTOL aircraft developer Joby has bought the autonomy division of Xwing.
Founded in 2016, California-based Xwing is developing its Superpilot system for unmanned flight.
Superpilot comprises two sensor pods equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras that are retrofitted to aircraft to enable autonomous flight. The system uses AI and machine learning to see runways and other aircraft so they can autonomously take off and land and detect and avoid during flight.
Engineers at Xwing have been testing Superpilot using a modified Cessna Caravan and have completed 250 fully autonomous flights and more than 500 auto-landings to date. The company had previously stated it planned to fit the system into a fleet of 34 Cessnas and operate them remotely to transport cargo.
Xwing was the first company to receive an official project designation for the certification of a large unmanned aerial system from the FAA last April and the first to receive an Air Force Military Flight Release in 2024.
Earlier this year, Xwing’s test aircraft participated in a US Air Force exercise, which saw it complete daily flights, covering 2,800 miles (4,500km), and landing at eight public and military airports.
Joby said it expects Xwing’s technology to be used in both near-term piloted operations and fully autonomous operations in the future, as well as play a role in future contracts for the US Department of Defense.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby said, “The aircraft we are certifying will have a fully-qualified pilot on board, but we recognize that a future generation of autonomous aircraft will play an important part in unlocking our vision of making clean and affordable aerial mobility as accessible as possible.
“The exceptionally talented Xwing team has not only made unparalleled progress on the development and certification of vision systems, sensor fusion and decision-making autonomous technologies, but they’ve also successfully demonstrated the real-life application of their technology, flying hundreds of fully autonomous flights in the national airspace. We’re honored to bring them onboard at Joby as we continue on our mission of building a next generation aviation company.”
Joby also bought Inras in 2021, a Germany-based company developing lightweight, high-performance radar sensor technology.
The acquisition covers all of Xwing’s existing automation and autonomy technology activities and was paid for with Joby shares. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
