Overview
- Joby announced on Friday that a converted Cessna Caravan flew 3,199 miles from Concord, California, to North Carolina’s Outer Banks with no pilot control inputs during taxi, takeoff, navigation or landing.
- Operators remotely supervised the flight from Joby’s autonomy center in California and from Shaw Air Force Base over distances up to about 2,323 miles while an onboard safety pilot made no control inputs.
- The eastbound demonstration included stops at Phoenix Deer Valley, Fort Worth Alliance and Shaw AFB and the system rerouted around severe weather to show how it handles busy and changing real‑world conditions.
- Joby says the autonomy stack was acquired from Xwing in 2024 and has logged more than 400 flights and 800 automated hours, and the company has expanded defense work through recent contracts and acquisitions tied to the technology.
- Shares slipped about 2% after the announcement as investors focused on Joby’s heavy capital needs, long regulatory and certification paths for uncrewed operations, and CEO JoeBen Bevirt’s sale of over 606,000 shares under a preplanned trading arrangement.