At Quonset State Airport in Rhode Island, an experimental Cessna Caravan fitted with Merlin Lab’s “Merlin Pilot” system, was flown completely autonomously with passengers. During the flight, the test pilot sat at the controls but did not fly the aircraft, as the system handled all piloting tasks as well as acceleration, take-off, turning, descent, and landing.
The system goes beyond conventional pilot assistance because it’s designed to interact directly with air traffic instructions rather than simply hold altitude or speed. Merlin Pilot uses a natural-language processing model to listen to a mock air traffic controller and respond over the radio using a computer-generated female voice. The machine wasn’t following a pre-set route, but instead interpreting spoken instructions and converting them into real-life action....<<<Read More>>>....
