Open letter to President Joe Biden and the American People regarding the White House Advanced Air Mobility Summit

TL;DR: The United States needs to make airborne autonomy certification and support for its operational use a national priority.

Reliable Robotics thanks the Biden Administration for organizing the White House Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Summit. The conversations with leaders across government and industry were very productive, but highlighted that there is a lot of work in front of us if we are to cement America’s leadership position in aviation for the 21st century.

Airborne autonomy is the underpinning capability that will enable a safer and more secure future for the world’s skies. Airborne autonomy will enable small drones, large Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), and new vehicle types such as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), which will create new markets, new opportunities, and new exports for our nation. But it is important that we not lose sight of the fact that airborne autonomy will have immediate safety, public and export benefits with today’s existing certified aircraft as well:

• Increased safety. Historically, every new advancement in aircraft automation has made aviation safer. An autonomous aircraft is a safer aircraft and will bring about an end to Loss Of Control (LOC), Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) and fuel mismanagement accidents, eliminating hundreds of fatalities every year.
• More connections across rural communities. Autonomous cargo planes will benefit the public by expanding next-day air service to underserved regions of the country and help meet our nation’s insatiable appetite for e-commerce.
• Greater access and convenience. One day, autonomous passenger planes will offer lower cost and more point-to-point flights than today’s aircraft, enabling more Americans to enjoy air travel through over 5,000 public use airports.
• Job creation. Autonomous aircraft will create new jobs and new job categories, such as remote pilots, that will enable more people to enjoy fulfilling careers in aviation. This will include many Americans that otherwise might be excluded due to medical, physical ability or educational cost constraints. Autonomous aircraft will also enable veteran military drone pilots to more easily transition their experience to the civilian world.
• Infrastructure savings. High-precision navigation systems, required for autonomous aircraft, can be used on today’s aircraft to enable low-visibility landing and taxiing at existing airports without the need to install and continually re-certify and maintain expensive Instrument Landing System (ILS) equipment.
• Economic security. Autonomous aviation standards, technology and associated services will become a critical export of the United States and allow our country to maintain its position as the #1 aviation exporter in the 21st century. Air transport is already a $700B market today and will dramatically increase as autonomy expands access and availability.
• National security. In the very near future the world will have millions of aircraft moving through the skies, and it is of critical importance to our economic and national security that these vehicles are designed and operated in concert with American safety and security standards.

We are in an airborne autonomy race with Europe and China, and we are falling behind. European aviation regulators are proactively creating new regulatory guidance and moving quickly to grant approvals for autonomous aircraft. China is already flying autonomous cargo planes. To win this race, the United States needs to make airborne autonomy certification and support for its operational use a national priority. To that end, the Administration should take the following actions:

• The FAA should be directed to create an office with the authority to coordinate activity required to certify airborne autonomy, or grant an existing office this authority. Today, applicant requests to certify autonomous technology get stuck in a bureaucratic morass because there is no clear path for review and approval of capabilities that cross multiple organizations within the agency. The impact of the status quo can be years of slower growth relative to international competitors. A central office would expedite this process and give working-level FAA engineers greater authority to make decisions.
• The FAA should be directed to expedite work on rulemaking needed to modify 14 CFR Part 91 to enable routine operation of UAS in the National Airspace System, without the need for visual observers, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This rulemaking must take into account operations in all airspace, not just small UAS operations close to the ground.?
• The FAA should be directed to release real-time air traffic data (“NAS data”, Primary Surveillance Radar, etc.) to approved parties for the purposes of ensuring safe separation between aircraft, both UAS and those with a pilot onboard. Private industry deploying surveillance systems that duplicate infrastructure already built and paid for with tax dollars is not in the public interest and presents a potential security threat. Access to and use of existing data should be made available to those with a legitimate safety need and then closely monitored by the FAA and DoD.
• The Administration should work with the FAA to convene a policy group consisting of interagency and industry experts for the purpose of proposing new regulations establishing Digital Flight Rules (DFR). DFR will enable interoperation of UAS and crewed aircraft through advanced airspace and aircraft automation, enhanced surveillance and secure, digital Pilot/Controller communications. Developing, testing and fully deploying DFR could take up to 10 years, according to some in the FAA. This process needs to begin now.

Our country is the recognized leader in advancing aviation safety. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels or stop innovating. It is time we recognized the value of airborne autonomy to our nation’s future and make it the national priority it should be. We look forward to working with this Administration and members of Congress on building a safer and more secure future for the world’s skies.

Robert W. Rose

CEO, Reliable Robotics Corporation