Joby Aviation says it has completed the first fully autonomous flight across the United States, flying an aircraft from California to North Carolina without human control inputs. The achievement could help the company expand beyond its planned electric air-taxi services into freight, emergency response and defence logistics.

The 3,199-mile journey used a converted Cessna Caravan equipped with Joby’s autonomous flight system, which handled taxiing, take-off, cruising and landing. A safety pilot monitored the aircraft on board, while teams also supervised it remotely from California and South Carolina; the aircraft will now return westwards, stopping in several cities. Joby is separately preparing to launch piloted electric air-taxi services to the public later this year.