Boeing CEO says in the future self-flying planes will be used in commercial aviation as the company works toward autonomous flying.
Key Details
- Planemaker Boeing has been creating autonomous flight technology for military use, and CEO Dave Calhoun says it’s just a matter of time before it goes commercial.
- The company has partnered with NASA to test-fly a fuel-efficient aircraft that could be the future of planes by taking the place of the iconic 737 and eventually moving to focus on an autonomous model.
- Calhoun also states the company has been benefitting from the mass layoffs in the tech sector by hiring recently laid-off skilled workers.
Why it’s news
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun says the company has been creating autonomous flight technology for military use, which will be used in commercial aviation in the future. Calhoun said it isn’t the question of if the planes will go commercial, but when.
“Autonomy is going to come to all of the airplanes eventually,” says Calhoun. “The future of autonomy is real for civil aviation.”
The planemaking company has partnered with NASA to test a fuel-efficient plane known as the “transonic truss-braced wing.” The two companies are aiming for test flights by 2028, and Calhoun said the new prototype could potentially replace the conic 737.
Calhoun also says that the company is taking advantage of the recent surge of playoffs in the tech sector. Numerous tech employees are being fired from Amazon and Microsoft and then heading to Boeing for new jobs, which Calhoun said is good since the company is getting a surplus of skilled workers.
“We had 15,000 hires last year. We’ll have another 10,000 this year,” he says, adding that most of the new hires are coming from Amazon.
