autonomous aircraft
An autonomous aircraft is an aircraft which flies under the control of on-board autonomous robotic systems and needs no intervention from a human pilot or remote control. Most contemporary autonomous aircraft are unmanned aerial vehicles (drones ...
company founded in 2016, initially focusing on cargo operations.
The company was founded by Marc Piette (former CEO) and Maxime Gariel (CTO). It received a $4 million
seed round
Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggest ...
in 2018 led by Eniac Ventures, and a $10 million Series A in May 2020 led by R7 Partners, also including funding from
Thales Group
Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...
. Its staff also includes Earl Lawrence, formerly at the FAA in unmanned aircraft and aircraft certification.
In 2020, the company performed a four-hour fully autonomous flight, and was performing gate-to-gate autonomous operations in February 2021. In October 2022, the company announced
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
The Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is one of five mission directorates within NASA, the other four being the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, the Space Operations Mission Directorate, the Science Mission Direct ...
awarded a contract to share data and study autonomous flights in the national airspace.
Xwing operates N101XW, a
Cessna 208 Caravan
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna.
The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982.
The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...
under an experimental license with its autonomous system.
The company acquired Airpac Aviation, a cargo feeder.
The company acquired
Martinaire
Martinaire Aviation, L.L.C. is an American cargo airline based on the grounds of Addison Airport in Addison, Texas, United States, near Dallas.
The Autonomy Division of Xwing was acquired by Joby Aviation in June 2024.