Qt Group brings together experts from across the uncrewed systems sector to examine how increasing software complexity is shaping the future of autonomous vehicles across air, land, and sea.
Off-the-shelf components have lowered the technical barriers to building capable uncrewed vehicles. However, systems are becoming increasingly complex as they combine hardware, software, and AI from a growing number of suppliers. The resulting challenges centre on integrating systems across different vendors and software stacks, moving from controlling individual vehicles to commanding autonomous systems, maintaining operator control when required, and meeting evolving certification requirements across civil and defense markets.
In this transatlantic panel, Florian Schwaiger (Avilus) and Jonathan Thomas (DCS Corporation) join Qt Group experts Cliff Bilbrey and Brian Page to explore how the market is evolving, from small commodity drones to type-certified aircraft, and from remotely piloted platforms to autonomous systems.
The discussion addresses:
- Changes in the sector: Off-the-shelf components and AI, the growing complexity they introduce, and whether success increasingly depends on the use case rather than the technology.
- Integration and interoperability: How systems from multiple vendors can operate as one across domains, and the role of open standards.
- Operator effectiveness: Reducing cognitive load as complexity grows, developing interfaces aligned with operator training, and ensuring trained crews retain full control when needed.
- Certification and dual use: Certifying an aircraft versus its operations, evolving regulations, and balancing speed of fielding with certification requirements.
- Outlook to 2035: The opportunities and challenges decision makers should anticipate, including software that can scale throughout the life of a program.
Starts: 10 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT (17:00 UTC +2)
Ends: 10 Dec 2026, 15:45 GMT (17:45 UTC +2)
