Merlin has announced it has successfully achieved the Stage of Involvement 3 (SOI 3) milestone with the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ) for two critical components of the Merlin Pilot autonomy platform: the Flight Control Computer (FCC) and the Automated Communication System (ACS). The work has been conducted with CAANZ in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, according to the company in a press release.
Achieving SOI 3 marks a major certification milestone to confirm that Merlin’s software has been tested and verified against its requirements, said the company. “The milestone builds on prior Stage of Involvement achievements, including SOI 1 and SOI 2, and shows Merlin is progressing through the rigorous certification process put in place by regulators,” said the companies. “Merlin has also successfully concluded an important issue paper addressing the use of AI/ML-based natural language processing within the certification program, signifying that Merlin and CAANZ have agreed on the certification approach and the evidence required to demonstrate that the Merlin Pilot’s AI/ML-based capabilities are safe and perform as intended.”
“This milestone underscores Merlin’s approach of building trusted autonomy in partnership with regulators. This is significant as we’re not building experimental AI, but rather aviation-grade autonomy that performs full phase autonomy from takeoff to touchdown,” said Tim Burns, Chief Technology Officer, Merlin. “Achieving SOI 3 establishes a foundation for certification of our flight autonomy and AI capabilities and reflects the disciplined engineering processes we have built through this program. As we continue onto the final stages of the certification process, our focus remains on delivering autonomy that enhances operational safety, improves efficiency, and enables new levels of capability across the aviation ecosystem.”
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https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/08/06/3340227/0/en/merlin-achieves-next-stage-in-certification-of-its-autonomous-flight-technology.html