AI is learning to fly airplanes – and aviation is starting to embrace it
AI technology is being tested in aviation, with systems like Merlin Labs' AI pilot taking control of aircraft during flights. This development comes amid a global pilot shortage and increasing pressure on air traffic control systems. While AI has the potential to enhance safety by reducing human error, the aviation industry faces challenges in gaining acceptance and trust from pilots.
- ▪Merlin Labs is testing an AI pilot that can control a Cessna Caravan during flights.
- ▪Boeing estimates that the aviation industry will need over 600,000 new pilots in the next two decades.
- ▪Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy supports AI tools to modernize air traffic control and improve efficiency.
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window.CNN.contentModel.leadingMediaType = 'image'; window.CNN.contentModel.isVideoCollection = false; An AI pilot flies a Cessna Caravan over Rhode Island during a test flight for Merlin Labs. CNN AI Aviation news Air travel safety See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow Quonset State Airport, Rhode Island — The small Cessna Caravan accelerates down the runway and climbs into the air, all while the pilot beside me keeps his hands off the controls. “Let’s see those jazz hands,” jokes Tim Burns, chief technology officer at startup Merlin Labs, over the airplane’s intercom from a back seat. On this flight, test pilot Matt Diamond in the left seat beside me is not controlling the airplane at all.
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