Dr. Gariel: Xwing: the journey to deploying autonomous cargo aircraft

Overview

Xwing: the journey to deploying autonomous cargo aircraft

Abstract

Xwing is on a mission to build the world’s smartest, cleanest and most advanced aviation system. We're transforming the way airplanes fly— so regional air mobility will be radically safer, more efficient, more accessible and more sustainable than it’s ever been. Our work begins with converting today’s cargo aircraft into remotely-operated self-flying airplanes so every regional route can be serviced frequently and reliably— so every person in every corner of the world can have improved access to all the goods and supplies that are essential and important to them. Beyond the cargo market, we plan to expand our technology safely and scalably to other areas of commercial aviation. This talk will focus on the Xwing's progress and challenges.

Brief Biography

Maxime Gariel is the CTO of Xwing, a San Francisco based startup whose mission is to dramatically increase human mobility using fully autonomous aerial vehicles. Xwing is on a mission to build the world’s smartest, cleanest, and most advanced aviation system. We're transforming the way airplanes fly— so regional air mobility will be radically safer, more efficient, more accessible, and more sustainable than it’s ever been. Maxime is a private pilot but he is passionate about making airplanes fly themselves. He 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 Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and his BS from ISAE-Supaéro (France).