(KCCR); flying over the San Francisco Bay Area skyline; navigating high-altitude mountain terrain across the American West; and completing a low pass past Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina’s Outer Banks near Kitty Hawk. (Photos by Joby Aviation)
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — An aircraft equipped with Joby Aviation’s technology has completed the first-ever autonomous flight across the United States. The aircraft flew 3,199 miles with zero control inputs from its onboard safety pilot, concluding the eastbound leg of its month-long tour in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, near the site of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.
The aircraft, a converted Cessna Caravan, performed autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, route navigation, and landings under remote supervision from Joby’s Autonomy Headquarters in California and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, up to 2,323 miles away.
During the cross-country journey, called the Electric Skies tour by the company, the aircraft proved its ability to integrate into high-density environments like Phoenix Deer Valley, one of the nation’s busiest general aviation airports, while rerouting around severe weather and thunderstorms in real time without prior airport familiarity, according to company officials.
“This journey across America offers a glimpse into a new era of aviation,” said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation. “Autonomy has an important role to play in the future of flight, allowing us to connect remote communities, deliver critical supplies, respond faster to disasters, support military operations, and keep pilots out of harm’s way.”
Following its transcontinental arrival, the Joby Caravan flew a low pass near the First Flight Monument at Kitty Hawk, honoring the site where Orville and Wilbur Wright ushered in the age of powered flight in 1903. The aircraft then landed at Dare County Regional Airport (KMQI).
In North Carolina, flights supported the state’s Department of Transportation eLIFT-NC initiative for statewide healthcare logistics, while western flights contributed to Utah DOT’s multi-state uFLY coalition to evaluate high-altitude, extreme-environment airspace integration for the FAA.
Joby’s autonomous technology is grounded in more than 400 flights and 800 automated flight hours in controlled and uncontrolled airspace, building on the mature autonomy stack acquired from Xwing in 2024, according to company officials. The system has also been tested in three major U.S. military exercises, including Air Force readiness exercise Agile Flag, where it delivered critical replacement parts 24 hours faster than conventional logistics, and REFORPAC, where aircraft in Hawaii were operated remotely from Guam, nearly 4,000 miles away.
The aircraft will now begin its return westbound journey, including stops in Raleigh (KRDU), Fredericksburg/Washington, D.C. (KRMN), Louisville (KSDF), Wichita (KICT), Oklahoma City (KOKC), Salt Lake City (KSLC), and Portland (KPDX).
For more information: JobyAviation.com
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