Public safety drone consultancy Skyfire and UAV automation platform VOTIX are coming together in a new partnership to enable more public safety agencies to navigate FAA regulations and start their own Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs.
Deploying drones as first responders allows public safety agencies to get eyes on a scene much faster than they are typically able to. As soon as an incident is reported to 911, a remote operator deploys a drone directly to the scene. The drone then provides a video feed to first responders and incident command. This kind of enhanced response to emergency situations not only helps to attain better situational awareness but also increases the efficiency of ground teams.
In San Diego County, California, for instance, live footage supplied by the “first responder” drone of the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) offered evidence in more than 2,000 cases that the report could be resolved over the phone. As a result, the police department was able to direct their patrol cars to tackle other critical incidents instead.
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Coming back to the collaborative approach to DFR programs announced by Skyfire and VOTIX today, it’s important to highlight that both companies bring a whole program approach to public safety. “The Skyfire team’s knowledge of complex FAA waivers, best-in-class training trusted by local, state, and federal agencies, and branches of the US military, combined with VOTIX software will be a game-changer for our industry,” says Matt Sloane, Skyfire founder and CEO.
VOTIX software helps to automate the DFR response process and allows any drone to be operated remotely through the cloud and in compliance with FAA regulations. The platform can be used to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, autonomous flights, real-time cloud video streaming, precision landing, and drone-in-a-box integration.
Ed Boucas, VOTIX founder and CEO, adds:
Leveraging Skyfire’s incredibly experienced team to help navigate FAA regulations, onboarding, and program-specific training, on any drone platform, will allow more departments and agencies to implement DFR programs with VOTIX, as well as entire counties and states looking to scale.
The new DFR integration service will be available as an add-on to existing VOTIX customers or as a separate service directly purchased from Skyfire.
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