Airbus Using Image Recognition Technology For Fully Automatic Take-Offs Written 17 January 2020

The Independent reports that Airbus said that it has “completed the first fully automatic vision-based take-off at Toulouse-Blagnac airport.” To do so, the “plane uses image recognition technology installed on the aircraft...rather than using existing ground technology.” Airbus Test Pilot Captain Yann Beaufils said, “We moved the throttle levers to the takeoff setting and we monitored the aircraft. It started to move and accelerate automatically maintaining the runway centre line, at the exact rotation speed as entered in the system. The nose of the aircraft began to lift up automatically to take the expected take-off pitch value and a few seconds later we were airborne.” Airbus indicated that it plans to “trial pilotless taxi and landing sequences by the middle of this year.”
Full Story (Independent (UK)