Air cargo carrier MightyFly has performed successful autonomous flights of its MF-100 aircraft in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The MF-100 autonomous aircraft has a cargo capacity of 100 pounds and a flight range of 600 miles.

The flights included successful autonomous vertical take-off and landing, two aspects of autonomous flight which present the most challenges.

All flights were monitored by remote pilots and completed under the special airworthiness certification from the FAA.

With an hybrid propulsion system, MightyFly autonomous aircraft recharge its batteries in flight, making it possible to perform multiple deliveries to multiple hubs along one single flight route.

MightyFly is targeting business-to-business use cases using hubs in cities, suburbs, and rural areas to simplify the steps involved in transporting goods and reduce the length of the last-mile logistics.

“Currently, over 20 Fortune 500 companies have validated MightyFly’s autonomous logistics solution to their mid mile inefficiencies. MightyFly is excited and ready to keep partnering with more companies prepared to adopt this innovative logistics methodology,” said MightyFly CEO and founder Manal Habib.

MightyFly’s autonomous loading and unloading system aims transport and track cargo with minimal human interaction. “Loading and unloading cargo is traditionally a very labour-intensive process. MightyFly will simplify this process, eliminating costly errors and delays,” said John Formisano, a retired FedEx executive, formerly VP of Global Vehicles, and director at MightyFly.

“Our approach has the potential to rewrite the logistics landscape by enabling low cost, low emission, point to point autonomous routing. Beyond decarbonisation benefits, the dramatic reduction in forward and reverse logistic costs are an essential foundation for a more circular materials economy,” said At One Ventures Managing Partner Tom Chi.