Reliable Robotics Secures $160 Million Funding to Advance Autonomous Aircraft Certification

On April 21, 2026, Reliable Robotics Corp. Announced it had closed a $160 million funding round, bringing its total capital raised to $300 million and pushing its valuation to nearly $1 billion. The investment will support the company’s efforts to secure Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification for its autonomous flight system designed for the Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft.

Funding Details and Investor Participation

The funding round was led by Nimble Partners, a San Francisco-based venture firm founded in 2020 by hedge fund veteran John Burbank, who will join Reliable Robotics’ board of directors. Existing investor RTX Ventures, the venture arm of aerospace and defense company RTX Corp., also participated in the round. The proceeds will be used to gather the extensive data and documentation required for FAA review under Part 23 airworthiness rules.

Progress Toward FAA Certification

Reliable Robotics is developing an autonomous flight system that enables a Cessna 208 Caravan to operate from taxi through takeoff, cruise, landing, and rollout under continuous autopilot, with a ground-based operator monitoring the flight and able to intervene if necessary. In November 2023, the company completed the first FAA-approved uncrewed flight of a large cargo aircraft in U.S. History, flying a Cessna 208B Caravan for 12 minutes from Hollister Municipal Airport under remote supervision from Mountain View, approximately 50 miles away.

The company states that commercial and military customers have placed more than 200 orders for its autonomy system. Reliable Robotics emphasizes that its certification pathway aims to establish a precedent for future Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations of large autonomous aircraft in U.S. Airspace.

Leadership and Industry Context

CEO Robert Rose, who co-founded Reliable Robotics after working at SpaceX and Tesla, said the company understands the technical and regulatory requirements for FAA approval and is focused on scaling its engineering team to meet those demands. “We know what needs to be done. We just need to execute, and that’s going to require scaling,” Rose stated in an interview with Bloomberg.

The funding comes amid growing interest in autonomous aviation technologies, with Reliable Robotics positioning itself as one of the closest companies to achieving certification for a large, fully autonomous aircraft operating under existing airworthiness standards.

Conclusion

With $300 million in total funding and a valuation approaching $1 billion, Reliable Robotics is advancing toward a milestone in aviation autonomy: FAA certification of an uncrewed cargo aircraft. The company’s progress could influence future regulatory frameworks for autonomous flight and enable fresh applications in cargo logistics and remote operations.