Solar Impulse lands in California after Pacific crossing

Re:Solar Impulse lands in California after Pacific crossing by cubano on Sunday April 24, 2016 @09:20AM (#11559593)

I am surprised that no one has been developing (or I haven't heard of) fully autonomous airplane pilot systems. Something like that tied to a fleet of solar planes like this for shipping stuff could be a real game changer for certain types of cargo.

Flying actually seems like a much "cleaner" environment for the AI to navigate then roads do, to be honest, and the dependence on instrumentation and not visual cues as much is of course a natural fit.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Solar Impulse lands in California after Pacific crossing by zubiaur on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:22AM (#11559768)

There are several autopilots able to follow a route untethered with just waypoints. Apm (ardu pilot mega) and pixhawk come to mind. From what I've read it is still highly recommendable by the RC community to have telemetry links and if range allows, manual control. These modules are used mostly as flying aides but some companies are building RC planes with autopilot capabilities and market them towards the mapping and surveying industries, charging a hefty premium for it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Solar Impulse lands in California after Pacific crossing by tim333 on Sunday April 24, 2016 @12:03PM (#11560112)

>surprised that no one has been developing (or I haven't heard of) fully autonomous airplane pilot systems

Facebook seems to be http://www.komando.com/happening-now/319972/facebook-is-buil...

[ Parent | on HN ]