One Step Towards Autonomy

Happy Tuesday folks - 

The future of transportation is autonomous. 

We’re watching Tesla, Waymo (Google) and Zoox (Amazon) duke it out in the robotaxi race.

But aviation is waiting in the wings for its autonomous revolution. 

However - the wind is starting to shift. 

Robinson Helicopter has built over 14,000 aircraft from a single factory in Torrance, CA. They’ve dominated civilian rotorcraft for 50 years. 

Last week, the company stopped waiting for someone else to automate aviation, launching Robinson Unmanned.

Here’s the line-up in simple terms: 

• Ascent Helius, Spirit & Spartan - small UAS, shipping now ($4,499–$25,999+)
• R44 Sprayhawk - autonomous ag spray, ~$990K complete, cuts per-acre costs from $3.27 → $2.00
• R44 Airtruck - uncrewed heavy-lift cargo, pricing TBA
• R66 TurbineTruck - turbine cargo helicopter running Sikorsky's MATRIX autonomy, first flight early 2027, pricing TBA (manned R66 lists ~$1.1M for reference)
• Skyryse One - fly-by-wire R66 for pilots, $1.8M vs. $1.1M standard, first deliveries 2026

Everyone's watching the roads. Robinson just changed the altitude. It’s one small step towards autonomy.

Disclosure: This is not financial advice.