Joby flies converted Cessna Caravan across the US without pilot inputs

Joby Aviation has completed a 3,199 mile flight across the United States using an autonomy-equipped Cessna Caravan, with no control inputs from the safety pilot on board. The aircraft left Buchanan Field Airport in Concord, California, and finished the eastbound leg at Dare County Regional Airport in North Carolina's Outer Banks, near the site of the Wright brothers' 1903 powered flight. Over the month-long trip, the system handled taxi, take-off, navigation and landing while being supervised remotely from Joby's autonomy headquarters in California and from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. At the greatest separation, supervisors were 2,323 miles from the aircraft. The route took in Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, among the busiest general aviation fields in the country, and included real-time rerouting around thunderstorms. Joby says the aircraft did not need prior familiarity with each airport it used. The flight formed part of the company's 2026 Electric Skies tour. Stops included Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, where Joby showed autonomous freight handling and also flew its first air taxi eIPP flight in that state, and Shaw Air Force Base, where it ran representative military operations. Activity in North Carolina supported the state transportation department's eLIFT-NC healthcare logistics work, while the western legs fed into the UDOT-led uFLY coalition. Joby reports more than 400 flights and 800 automated flight hours with the technology, which it acquired from Xwing's autonomy division in 2024. The system has featured in three US military exercises, including a delivery of replacement parts during Agile Flag and Hawaii operations controlled from Guam during REFORPAC. A westbound return leg is planned with stops including Raleigh, Louisville, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City and Portland. The approach of adding autonomy to an aircraft that is already certified, rather than building a new airframe, is one route that hardware companies in Santa Cruz County's aviation and advanced manufacturing sector may watch closely, particularly those supplying components and software into California's electric and autonomous flight programmes.