Joby eyes future autonomous eVTOL operations with acquisition of Xwing | News

US air taxi maker Joby Aviation has acquired the autonomous division of start-up Xwing, a move that will enable it to eventually implement unmanned technology in its developmental electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Santa Cruz-based Joby announced the deal on June 4, adding that it had acquired “all of Xwing’s existing automation and autonomy technology businesses,” as well as the company’s engineers, researchers and technologists. The terms of the takeover – paid for with Joby’s shares – were not disclosed.

Joby continues to plan to launch initial passenger operations with a pilot version of the four-seat eVTOL, the SA-2.

“The aircraft we certify will have a fully qualified pilot on board, but we recognize that the future generation of autonomous aircraft will play an important role in achieving our vision of ensuring the greatest possible availability of clean and affordable air mobility,” says JoeBen Bevirt, founder and Joba’s CEO.

Xwing, a start-up from the Bay Area of ​​California, has been working on certification by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the field of autonomous flight technology for several years. Xwing operates a Part 135 cargo business in which it conducts hundreds of piloted flights per month on behalf of UPS in a fleet of Cessna 208B Grand Caravans. The company is working to transition its fleet to fully remote cargo operations.

In April 2023, Xwing presented the project specifications certification plan to the FAA, “which would enable the company to begin operating 100% unmanned commercial cargo flights once certified,” the company said at the time.

This made the Xwing unmanned aircraft system the first to be assigned FAA resources to obtain airworthiness certification in the standard category. Although designed for cargo transportation, the Superpilot system is compared to current passenger aircraft safety standards.

The company recently obtained a military flight permit from the United States Air Force and made a series of flights demonstrating real-world applications of its technology in cargo transportation.

Since 2020, the Superpilot system has completed 250 fully autonomous gate-to-gate flights and more than 500 automatic landings, Joby says.

“The exceptionally talented Xwing team has not only made unparalleled progress in the development and certification of vision systems, sensor fusion and autonomous decision-making technologies, but also successfully demonstrated the real-life application of its technology by flying hundreds of fully autonomous flights in the national airspace,” says Bevirt.

Xwing personnel will now be integrated into Joby’s operations, focusing on developing a roadmap for applying autonomous flight technology to the SA-2 and strengthening Joby’s relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense.

“Xwing’s goal of connecting communities through clean and affordable autonomous flight is closely aligned with Joba’s long-term vision,” says Maxime Gariel, the startup’s chief technology officer. “I can’t imagine a better home for the Xwing team to realize our shared vision.”

Rival air taxi maker Archer Aviation has partnered with autonomous eVTOL developer WIsk, which the companies say will bring Wisk technologies to future variants Archer’s Midnight plane.

Robin Riedel, who co-chairs the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility, tells FlightGlobal that adopting autonomy is “a natural next step in the evolution of eVTOL.”

eVTOL designs place less emphasis on manual flying skills “because they use fly-by-wire technology to manage a complex system of thrusters, tilting mechanisms and control surfaces,” Riedel says. “This allows for an easier transition to uncrewed or autonomous aircraft as most of the new capabilities will be in software rather than hardware.”

Pilotless configurations also free up space for another paying passenger, which could prove crucial to the economics of an air taxi mission, Riedel says.

Declining to comment on specific companies, Riedel says that as it has become increasingly difficult to secure financing for startups in recent months, acquisitions and mergers may become more attractive to players in the advanced air mobility industry.

“Obtaining competences in this area is attractive because it can become a competitive differentiator and allow for better integration of new generation technologies than cooperation with external suppliers,” he says.

However, he believes that larger acquisitions and mergers between eVTOL OEMs are unlikely because “there are often not enough real assets (and) the technologies are in most cases different enough that the design and (intellectual property) are less interesting to acquire.” “.

Joby says the acquisition of Xwing complements its previous purchase of Austrian company Inras, which develops lightweight and efficient radar sensors. In addition, the company owns the German manufacturer of hydrogen propulsion systems, H2FLY.