Reliable Robotics and Vantis Partner to Advance Automated Aviation in North Dakota

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Reliable Robotics, a leader in autonomous aircraft system development, today announced a joint agreement to advance repeatable, scalable and economically viable operations of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) with Vantis in North Dakota. The collaboration directly supports the North Dakota Department of Transportation’s participation in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) BEYOND program for UAS.

“This is an exciting and mutually beneficial partnership,” said Trevor Woods, Executive Director of the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS), which administers Vantis. “Both Vantis and Reliable Robotics are working towards expanding the capabilities of large UAS operations.”

Reliable Robotics was founded in 2017, and within an 18-month period, flew an uncrewed Cessna 172 over a populated area in controlled airspace. The company demonstrated remote piloting from its control center in 2021, and is currently working towards certification of its Remotely Operated Aircraft System on a popular cargo aircraft, the Cessna 208 Caravan.

“We have a long-standing relationship with NPUASTS and share a vision of enabling UAS and remotely piloted operations at scale across North Dakota,“ said Robert Rose, Co-founder and CEO of Reliable Robotics.

Vantis has received a total of $48 million in funding from North Dakota’s state legislature to build a first-of-its-kind statewide UAS network for commercial use. Vantis is part of NPUASTS, one of the world’s leading programs for UAS research and development. Reliable Robotics is working with NPUASTS to establish the Concept of Operations for UAS utilizing the Vantis system.

“North Dakota has invested in the creation and build-out of Vantis in order to enable commercial UAS flights that are widespread and commonplace,” said Jim Cieplak, Program Manager of Vantis. “Our collaboration with Reliable Robotics will build towards that goal and prove the viability of Vantis in commercial use cases.”

About Reliable Robotics

Reliable Robotics launched in 2017 to bring certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation as soon as possible. The company’s automation system enables remote operation of any aircraft type and will expand access to more locations. Reliable’s vision is to transform the way we move goods and people around the planet with safer, more convenient and more affordable air transportation. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, CA and has a distributed global workforce. Learn more and see job openings at https://reliable.co.

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