By automating aircraft, Merlin Labs raised $105 million to address the pilot shortage
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| Merlin Labs raised $105 million to address the pilot shortage |
A number of businesses, including Merlin Labs, are working on a long-term solution to the summer's flight delays and cancellations that are in part caused by a pilot shortage: removing pilots from the cockpit by creating computer systems that enable aircraft to fly themselves.
The Boston-based startup has raised $105 million in new funding after wowing notable investors, including the Scottish company Baillie Gifford, with a plan to automate the workhorse C-130J Super Hercules transport planes of the U.S. Air Force.
According to Merlin Labs CEO Matthew George, the company's first product will be the first flight control system with an artificial intelligence component to be made commercially available and will allow an aeroplane to automatically follow a predetermined course from the taxiway through takeoff to landing. It will be able to comprehend and comply with radio directions from quick-talking air traffic controllers.
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