autonomous-aircraft
(2)
Grid Aero
Grid Aero is a Palo Alto aerospace and defense startup building the Lifter-Lite, an autonomous, long-range, heavy-lift cargo drone designed to move thousands of pounds across thousands of miles for military and commercial customers. Founded in 2024 by Arthur Dubois - a veteran of Joby Aviation and Xwing - the company is targeting contested logistics in the Pacific theater and remote civilian routes, with a deliberately simple airframe and AI-enhanced autonomy.
Pyka
Pyka builds large autonomous, all-electric aircraft for crop protection and cargo logistics. Headquartered in Alameda, California, the company designs its own airframes, batteries, flight computers, and autonomy stack, and flies them commercially across four continents for customers in agriculture, freight, and defense.