Acubed’s Modified King Air Collecting Data for AI-Powered Autonomous Tech

Airbus’s Silicon Valley innovation shop, Acubed, touted its new autonomy systems testbed at this year’s EAA Oshkosh AirVenture. The modified Beechcraft King Air C90 fills the shoes of the company’s old Baron to collect airport runway imagery and data from hundreds of fields.

“Our main job is to bring technology innovation and software from all over the world, from machine learning [to] artificial intelligence, into the Airbus ecosystem,” said Paul Smith, Director of Flight Test and Operations for Acubed.

The King Air offers more cabin space for hardware and, just as importantly, a tail camera mounted at the same height as an Airbus A320’s belly. Ten cameras and an assortment of sensors are used to capture images of runways and taxiways, recording from four miles out all the way to rollout, day or night, in everything short of a thunderstorm.

This data feeds into Airbus’s “Wayfinder” program, which aims to develop certifiable autonomy systems by 2035. The project is training algorithms to recognize runways, obstacles, and surface layouts, fusing that with GPS, ILS, and inertial systems to give an aircraft a sort of instinct. Ideally, this means fewer go-arounds, safer landings, and less pilot workload.

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