Autonomous flight pioneer Reliable Robotics has announced two new government contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense that will bolster its efforts to bring remotely piloted aircraft to market. NASA has awarded Reliable and Ohio University $6 million for a collaborative research project to advance autonomous flight tech and industry standards.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force’s Afwerx innovation unit has selected Reliable to participate in the Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) program, which could provide up to $1.9 million. The program offers government funding to match what its recipients raise from third parties. A Reliable spokesperson told AIN the company was “down-selected to be eligible for the funding,” but they are “unable to confirm the funding amount at this time.”
Reliable aims to retrofit legacy aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan with an advanced navigation system and a highly automated flight control system that will enable remote piloting of uncrewed aircraft. The California-based company has already flown its modified Caravan without a pilot on board, and it recently obtained military airworthiness approval to conduct flight testing operations with the USAF. Reliable has been collaborating with the USAF since 2021 to design, develop, and test autonomous flight capabilities for potential defense applications under the DoD’s small business innovation research (SBIR) program.
Afwerx offers TACFI grants to companies that have received Phase 2 SBIR awards, and the program aims to “bridge the capability gap” between SBIR contract phases as recipients transition from research and development into production and commercialization.
“The TACFI Program is a valuable funding mechanism to bolster SBIR projects, and its application to autonomy development unlocks significant product acceleration, maturation, and demonstration of operationally relevant mission sets,” said Lt. Col. Bryan Ralston, chief of Afwerx’s Autonomy Prime branch.
“TACFI funding is an important milestone signifying our autonomous flight system is moving forward toward operational implementation,” added David O’Brien, Reliable’s senior v-p of government solutions. “Reliable is laser-focused on U.S. leadership in aviation and delivering the Air Force unrivaled automation capabilities for multiple aircraft types within existing inventory, in reduced crew, and crewless modes to defeat any threat, at any time, anywhere on earth.”
In addition to its work with the Department of Defense, Reliable is also exploring commercial applications for uncrewed aircraft, including remotely piloted cargo flights. Last year, the company partnered with NASA to improve the safety of uncrewed aircraft in the National Airspace System using FAA surveillance radar data. Now the agency has contracted Reliable to help define industry standards for autonomous technology.
“When it comes to aviation standards, industry consensus is key,” said Reliable co-founder and CEO Robert Rose. “This important university-industry collaboration funded by NASA will directly inform the automatic taxi standards being developed within RTCA and in turn help streamline the process to receive operational approval of these systems from regulatory bodies such as the FAA.”
In February, Reliable announced that the FAA had accepted its technical requirements for the advanced navigation and continuous autopilot systems that form the backbone of its autonomy kit. The FAA accepted Reliable’s certification plans for the Caravan conversions last July. The company aims to have a supplemental type certificate for Caravan conversions in hand by 2025, initially certifying the technology as a pilot aid for single-pilot operations before moving on to uncrewed commercial flights.