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Joby Completes First-Ever Fully Autonomous Flight Across the United States

Business Wire

  • Aircraft equipped with Joby's autonomy technology completes first-ever autonomous flight across the United States, arriving in North Carolina's Outer Banks

  • Aircraft covered 3,199 miles with zero control inputs from onboard safety pilot, including autonomous taxi, takeoff, cruise, and landing, supervised remotely from up to 2,323 miles away

  • Milestone demonstrates real-world operational maturity, safety, and dual-use utility of Joby's autonomy technology for commercial freight, emergency response, and defense logistics

  • Historic low pass over Kitty Hawk honors the birthplace of modern aviation while validating flexible, low-cost autonomous access to remote and regional communities

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., September 18, 2026--Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE: JOBY) today announced that an aircraft equipped with its autonomy technology has completed the first-ever autonomous flight across the United States. The aircraft flew 3,199 miles with zero control inputs from its onboard safety pilot, concluding the eastbound leg of its month-long tour in North Carolina's Outer Banks, near the site of the Wright brothers' first powered flight.

The aircraft, a converted Cessna Caravan, performed autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, route navigation, and landings under remote supervision from Joby's Autonomy Headquarters in California and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, up to 2,323 miles away. The journey demonstrated the operational capabilities of Joby's autonomy technology across a range of environments, supporting applications in commercial freight, medical transport, disaster response, and defense logistics.

By integrating an autonomous system onto an already-certified airframe, Joby offers a scalable path to autonomous air logistics. During the cross-country journey, the aircraft proved its ability to seamlessly integrate into high-density environments like Phoenix Deer Valley, one of the nation's busiest general aviation airports, while rerouting around severe weather and thunderstorms in real time without prior airport familiarity.

"This journey across America offers a glimpse into a new era of aviation," said JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation. "Autonomy has an important role to play in the future of flight, allowing us to connect remote communities, deliver critical supplies, respond faster to disasters, support military operations, and keep pilots out of harm's way."

Completed Eastbound Milestones

As part of Joby's 2026 Electric Skies tour, the eastbound leg featured flight demonstrations, logistics showcases, and key operational milestones across the following stops:

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