Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, is advancing the future of aviation by turning cutting-edge research into operational autonomous flight systems. Leveraging decades of expertise in autonomy, advanced aircraft design, and flight testing, Aurora develops intelligent systems that make aircraft safer, more adaptable, and mission-ready.
“Aurora has been advancing autonomous flight for over 35 years,” said Dr. Mia Stevens, chief engineer of the Accelerating Testing of Live Autonomy Software (ATLAS) program at Aurora. “What sets us apart is how we bring together research, flight testing, and real aircraft to make autonomy operational. We’re building systems that will define how the next generation of aircraft think and fly.”
Pioneering Autonomy with Optionally Piloted Innovation
Aurora has long pioneered optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) as a bridge between traditional piloted flight and full autonomy. The company’s OPA legacy began with Chiron, its first OPA developed in 1996.
Building on that foundation, Aurora created Centaur, a next-generation OPA that serves as a cornerstone for autonomy testing and data collection. With Centaur, flight test teams can conduct complex, repeatable real-world tests with or without an onboard safety pilot. Centaur has become a key testbed for validating autonomy algorithms and advancing human-machine trust.
Applying Autonomy Across Platforms
Aurora’s autonomy advancements are driven by deep technical expertise in Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC), perception capabilities, and early-stage R&D. These core capabilities enable Aurora’s systems to sense surroundings, make decisions, and execute precise maneuvers. From perception algorithms that identify landing zones and obstacles to GNC architectures that ensure stability and mission readiness, Aurora’s integrated approach delivers reliable autonomy from concept through flight.
These capabilities span multiple platforms, each offering unique insights into independent and intelligent aircraft operations:
- SKIRON-X, a Group 2 sUAS, is a fast-moving test platform for autonomy software, perception systems, and decision-making algorithms, enabling rapid experimentation across missions and environments.
- Centaur demonstrates how autonomy can safely integrate into the National Airspace System (NAS), blending human oversight with automated systems in live flight scenarios.
- Aurora’s Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) transformed a UH-1 helicopter into an autonomous aircraft capable of takeoff, flight, landing site selection, and payload delivery without human intervention.
- Aurora’s work on experimental aircraft explores new aerodynamic designs, propulsion technologies, and flight-control architectures, using autonomy to reduce risk and increase repeatability when testing cutting-edge platforms.
