FedEx Seeks to Add Small Self-Flying Planes for Remote Areas
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FedEx Corp. is looking at using small self-flying cargo planes to serve remote areas after experimenting with a technology startup on autonomous aircraft, CEO Fred Smith said.
The effort builds on the courier鈥檚 work with Silicon Valley鈥檚 Reliable Robotics, which was founded by veterans of Elon Musk鈥檚 Space Exploration Technologies Corp. With approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Reliable Robotics demonstrated in June a fully automated remote landing of a Cessna 208 Caravan turboprop owned by FedEx.
鈥淭his initiative deals with small turboprop airplanes and in this particular case, the single-engine C208, which we鈥檙e looking at putting in very remote and uninhabited areas as part of our network,鈥 Smith said Sept. 21 at FedEx鈥檚 annual shareholder meeting.
RELATED: FedEx Posts Strong Quarterly Earnings, Fueled by E-Commerce
FedEx pilots shouldn鈥檛 be concerned about robots stealing their jobs 鈥 for now. It would take decades for technology to replace humans in piloting large freighters, Smith said.
鈥淔edEx has no plans to replace its trunk aircraft fleet with autonomous aircraft,鈥 said Smith, a former pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. 鈥淎nd I might add on the basis of my 50-plus years of experience in aviation, I think the prospect of large transport aircraft being flown without pilots is highly remote and not something that our crew-force should be worried about in the foreseeable future.鈥
贵别诲贰虫听ranks No. 2听on the听Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America听补苍诲听No. 15听on the听Transport Topics Top 50 list of North America鈥檚 largest logistics companies.
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