Boston-based Merlin has reached its second Stage of Involvement (SOI 2) milestone with the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA NZ), marking what the company calls a key step toward certification of its Merlin Pilot autonomy system. The achievement, announced Oct. 28, represents a critical phase in the software audit process that gives regulators progressive insight into safety-critical software design and implementation.
According to the company, the SOI 2 review confirms roughly half of the flight control software has undergone formal evaluation, offering regulators greater visibility into the system’s performance and reliability. The milestone builds on the company’s SOI 1 approval in 2023 and advances its Supplemental Type Certificate program for the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, conducted under concurrent validation with the FAA.
We've achieved our second Stage of Involvement (SOI 2) milestone with the @CivilAviationNZ (CAA NZ)!
— Merlin (@MerlinAero) October 28, 2025
Learn why this achievement is a major advancement in this multi-stage journey toward certification, and follows our plans to go public. https://t.co/itQuzobcNm pic.twitter.com/og1D6o9qp6
“This stage reflects the disciplined engineering and certification practices our team has put in place,” said Tim Burns, the company’s chief technology officer. “Each step deepens regulator confidence and advances the Merlin Pilot toward certification and real-world operations.”
The New Zealand effort coincides with Merlin’s broader certification roadmap and recent FAA approvals, including a Technical Standard Order received in March for its Remote Data Concentrator, developed with Shadin Avionics. Merlin has also been advancing U.S. military projects, completing early test flights of autonomous controls aboard KC-135 aircraft at the Pittsburgh Air National Guard Base and collaborating with GE Aerospace to integrate an autonomy core platform for both defense and civil applications.
The New Zealand certification milestone comes amid growing global activity in Caravan-based autonomy programs. In recent months, Joby Aviation and Reliable Robotics have each demonstrated autonomous flight operations of modified Cessna 208Bs under U.S. Air Force contracts, validating remote flight management and automated mission capabilities across the Pacific.
While those efforts have focused on distributed logistics and reduced-crew operations in military contexts, Merlin’s progress with CAA NZ is a step towards regulatory certification for commercial use. With more than $100 million in awarded defense contracts and continued engagement with international regulators, Merlin said it remains on track to bring its autonomy technology from flight testing to approved operations in the near future.
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