Merlin to Bring Military Autonomy Platform to Commercial Air Cargo
Merlin Labs announces integration of its Merlin Pilot autonomy system into commercial cargo aircraft as part of the Condor product suite, targeting reduced-crew operations on large multi-crew aircraft. The system is already pursuing military airworthiness on USSOCOM C-130J transporters.
In the not-too-distant future, cargo could be shipped by airplanes that autonomously assist their pilots.
Boston-based Merlin Labs, which is pursuing military airworthiness for its Merlin Pilot autonomy system on U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) C-130J Hercules transporters, said Thursday it will integrate the same system on commercial cargo aircraft.
The company’s Merlin Pilot for Commercial Cargo offering will be part of Condor—a new suite of products designed for reduced-crew operations on large, multi-crew civil and military aircraft.
Condor customers would be able to equip Pilot on military airframes such as the C-130J, as well as Part 25 aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. All three are listed as “current focus and future fleet candidates” on the Condor web page.
“Condor represents our approach to scaling autonomy across large, multi-crew aircraft, with the Merlin Pilot at its core,” said Matt George, CEO of Merlin, in a statement. “It’s being built to certify, advancing on real military aircraft with real regulators, and is designed to integrate into the aircraft operators already own.”
How It Works