ASL orders 30 Reliable Robotics aircraft autonomy systems

Global aviation services provider ASL Aviation Holdings placed a deposit-backed order for 30 units of the Reliable Robotics Corp. autonomous flight system for the Cessna 208B Caravan. The deal secures early delivery slots and enables ASL to be a leader in the adoption of safety and efficiency enhancing automation. ASL and Reliable have been working together since 2022 to bring advanced automation and remote piloting into ASL’s operations and have a shared goal of expanding the program to include additional aircraft types in the next 12 months.

“We are constantly developing and upgrading our capabilities to match and anticipate our customers’ requirements. Automating the Caravan with Reliable’s technology will enable ASL to deliver safe and reliable air cargo transport services at a lower operating cost to our express freight, postal, and e-commerce retailer customers,” said ASL Aviation Holdings Director Hugh Flynn.

ASL Aviation Holdings, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, offers wet-lease airline operations for major express freight, postal, and e-commerce companies. The ASL group consists of eight airlines based in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, operating more than 160 aircraft. Reliable Robotics is an original member of ASL’s CargoVision forum of next-generation companies involved in pioneering new aviation and propulsion technologies.

“ASL and Reliable will work together to deliver automated air cargo services for the largest global buyers of air cargo capacity, in turn providing more goods to more people in more places. This will start with the Cessna C208B Caravan, and then we intend to bring advanced automation to a range of aircraft to meet industry needs,” said Myles Goeller, Chief Business Officer at Reliable Robotics.

The Reliable autonomous flight system fully automates an aircraft through all phases of operation including taxi, takeoff, and landing, enabling it to be operated by a remote pilot in a ground control station. Reliable’s system is aircraft agnostic and uses multiple layers of redundancy and advanced navigation technology to improve safety and achieve the levels of integrity and reliability necessary for uncrewed flight. The system will help prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I), which account for most fatal aviation accidents. In November 2023, Reliable Robotics remotely operated a Cessna 208B Caravan with no one on board, marking aviation history. Industry-leading certification progress includes FAA acceptance of Reliable's certification plan in June 2023, and all requirements for the advanced aircraft navigation and autopilot systems agreed upon in February 2024.

Reliable Robotics – launched in 2017 to bring safe, certified automation systems to commercial aviation – is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has a distributed global workforce..

ASL Aviation Holdings airlines operate cargo services for the world’s leading express parcel integrators and eCommerce retailers. Group airlines also operate scheduled and charter cargo and services under its own airline brands on domestic, international, and intercontinental routes in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Africa. ASL has a global team of 3,000 people of 51 nationalities. The Group has a fleet of 160 aircraft that includes 9 aircraft types ranging from the turbo-prop ATR 72 to the Boeing 747.