Name: Reliable Robotics uncrewed cargo aircraft (Cessna 208B retrofit)
Brand: Reliable Robotics

Who's exposed

Jobs in the threat radius

regional cargo pilot (Part 135 feeder)
regional air freight crew

Deployment status

One of this catalog's rare pre-orders: uncrewed commercial operations have not started, but the launch window carries FAA sanction. In March 2026 Reliable was selected for the FAA's eIPP pilot program, which allows commercial flights before full type certification: subsidiary Reliable Airlines will fly remotely piloted Caravan cargo routes Albuquerque-Durango and Albuquerque-Santa Fe, with operations expected August 2026 — if it flies, the first routine regional cargo service by a large uncrewed aircraft in US airspace. What flies for revenue today is conventional: 5 piloted Caravans on FedEx feeder routes, doubling as the technology incubator. Full certification targets 2028. A $17.4M US Air Force contract landed August 2025; ASL Aviation Holdings (160+ aircraft, FedEx feeder flying) is evaluating fleet-wide retrofits. Reliable raised $160M in April 2026 at a ~$1B valuation.

When this hits the labor market

Whether cargo pilots follow truck drivers is the question this entry exists to watch. The substitution model is Gatik's, moved into the air: no pilot aboard, one remote pilot in a control center handling radio and mission programming, with multi-aircraft supervision ratios to follow. Over 1-3 years the exposed group is small and specific: Part 135 feeder cargo pilots — the ones flying thin routes to small stations for the big integrators — small fleets, fixed routes, exactly the segment automation cuts first. If the New Mexico routes open in August as planned, that is this occupation's first Gatik moment. Over 3-5 years the hinge is 2028 type certification: once granted, ASL-scale fleet retrofits move from evaluation to procurement, and the Air Force's tanker/airlift automation studies say the endgame isn't limited to small aircraft. Stated honestly: every revenue flight today still has a human in the cockpit. This entry records a door opening, not a displacement that has already happened.

Gatik’s playbook, moved into the sky

Reliable Robotics does one thing: it converts a forty-year-old workhorse freighter — the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan — into an aircraft that flies with nobody onboard. Taxi, takeoff, cruise, and landing run on continuous autopilot; a remote pilot in a control center handles radio calls and mission programming without touching a stick. The first uncrewed Caravan flight happened in November 2023, on an airframe loaned by FedEx. The substitution model is identical to Gatik’s driverless trucks: empty the seat, move the human behind a screen, raise the supervision ratio over time.

Today’s revenue is conventional. Subsidiary Reliable Airlines flies 5 piloted Caravans on FedEx feeder routes — hauling freight while incubating the system.

August 2026, New Mexico

This entry is pre-order, not shipping, and the line sits exactly at paid uncrewed flights: there have been none. But the window has the FAA’s own signature. In March 2026 Reliable was selected for the FAA’s eIPP program, which permits commercial operations before full certification. The planned routes — Albuquerque to Durango and Albuquerque to Santa Fe — are expected to open in August 2026, and the US Transportation Secretary visited to say so in person. If they fly, it’s the first routine regional cargo service by a large uncrewed aircraft in American airspace.

Full type certification targets 2028, on a plan the FAA formally accepted back in 2023 — no exemptions, straight through existing rules, the first project of its kind. The money is in place: $160M raised in April 2026 at a ~$1B valuation, plus a $17.4M Air Force contract that includes studying automation of tankers and airlifters.

Why we track it

Feeder cargo pilots are an invisible occupation: small fleets, thin routes, outsourced flying for the integrators. That is precisely why they sit first in line for aviation automation. ASL Aviation — 160+ aircraft, FedEx feeder work — is already evaluating fleet-wide conversion. The buyers exist; they are waiting on the certificate.

The industry line, as ever, is pilot shortage — regional cargo can’t hire. As in trucking, the shortage is real and so is the direction: once the New Mexico routes run, the century-old equation of one pilot per aircraft starts to loosen. We list this entry to give cargo pilots a calendar: August 2026, and 2028. Those two dates set this occupation’s next decade.