Reliable Robotics has opened a new engineering and development centre at its headquarters in Mountain View, California with congresswoman Anna Eshoo, top local elected officials and representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The expansion was marked with a ribbon cutting ceremony and remarks from congresswoman Eshoo and California state senator Josh Becker highlighting innovation in the region.

“Reliable Robotics is on a mission to make aviation safer with technologies like auto-landing and auto-takeoff systems. It's exciting to get a glimpse of the transformational aviation safety technology being developed in the 16th district,” says congresswoman Anna Eshoo. “In my two decades in Congress, I have promoted policies that foster innovation in Silicon Valley, and I am thrilled that Reliable Robotics is leveraging our talented workforce.”

Reliable Robotics is designing advanced autopilot systems with high precision navigation that will enhance aviation safety by enabling all weather auto-taxi, auto-takeoff and auto-landing, without new ground infrastructure. For the small towns and rural communities served by the USA's more than 5,000 general aviation airports, only a fraction of which have airline service, these technologies will improve access and enable the delivery of time-critical shipments like medical supplies.

The team is manufacturing and testing high-performance actuators, flight computers and other components in-house. This technology is the backbone of a continuous engagement autopilot that will prevent loss of control in flight, controlled flight into terrain, fuel mismanagement and other causes of fatal aviation accidents.

“This expansion builds on our early investments in quality assurance processes, rigorous safety analysis and information technology infrastructure, and enables our team to more quickly iterate and mature our designs,” notes Aaron Piercy, director of manufacturing, supply chain and quality at Reliable Robotics. “We're focused on reaching our certification objectives, and this puts us in a great position to immediately scale our operations thereafter.”

The safety-enhancing systems will initially be deployed on the Cessna Caravan, a popular cargo aircraft that serves regional airports, and can be adapted for use on almost any aircraft. Reliable Robotics recently achieved acceptance of its G-1 issue paper, a crucial milestone with the FAA on the path to certification of the technology for commercial use.