Boeing, Kittyhawk form partnership in unmanned aircraft system development

Boeing and the San Francisco, California-based company Kittyhawk will collaborate to offer a unified approach to the safe operation of commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Boeing officials said the company’s investment in Kittyhawk’s technology would support the development of a UAS Traffic Management System (UTM) enabling piloted and autonomous air vehicles to coexist safely.

Kittyhawk is currently working jointly with Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen to expand unmanned operations by participating in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), officials said, noting LAANC is a collaborative effort to create UTM processes integrating unmanned aircraft, cargo delivery and beyond visual line of sight operations safely into airspace.

“When paired with the broad portfolio of complementary data service offerings within Boeing, Kittyhawk is poised to help us shape the future of safe autonomous flight,” Brian Schettler, managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures, said. “We are excited to explore new capabilities made possible through foresight, expertise and a focus on holistic solutions that support the safe integration of unmanned systems into the national airspace.”

Since Kittyhawk was founded three years ago, the company’s customer base has grown to include industry leaders in media, insurance, energy, rail transportation and fire and emergency management agencies relying on it for end-to-end drone operations.

“Boeing’s world-renowned aviation expertise and resources will help Kittyhawk continue to mature our enterprise offerings,” Joshua Ziering, founder and chief pilot of Kittyhawk, said. “Boeing’s long history of forging new industries within the aerospace sector will also help as Kittyhawk continues its mission to create robust, open and interoperable standards to empower the commercial drone industry. We have a unique opportunity to pioneer a new aviation industry and having the support of Boeing will give Kittyhawk the expertise we need to be truly disruptive in this space.”