Xwing: the journey to deploying autonomous cargo aircraft

Overview

Abstract

Xwing is developing the suite of technologies required to retrofit and operate a fleet of autonomous Cessna Caravans. Our aircraft can safely integrate in the airspace. During this talk, we will introduce the company and the team, and discuss the concept of operations, the technical progress, some of the challenges, and the certification path. 

Brief Biography

Maxime Gariel is Xwing's Chief Technology Officer. Xwing is a San Francisco based startup whose mission is to dramatically increase human mobility using fully autonomous aerial vehicles. Xwing is converting Cessna Caravans into autonomous aircraft that can safely integrate into the airspace. Maxime is a pilot but he is passionate about making airplanes fly themselves. Maxime joined Xwing from Rockwell Collins where he was a Principal GNC Engineer. He worked on autonomous aircraft projects including DARPA Gremlins and the AgustaWestland SW4 Solo autonomous helicopter. Before becoming Chief Engineer of the SW4 Solo’s flight control system, he was in charge of the system architecture, redundancy, and safety for the project. Prior to Rockwell Collins, he worked on ADS-B based conflict detection as a postdoc at MIT and on autoland systems for airliners at Thales. Maxime earned his MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech under the supervision of Prof. Eric Feron and his BS from ISAE-Supaéro (France).