DroneUp receives all-important FAA no-observer BVLOS approval

Drone services company DroneUp has announced reception of what’s currently considered the brass ring of UAV operational capabilities with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization to make beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) deliveries without the obligation of ground observers.

DroneUp announced its FAA approval Thursday, leading with the detail the development makes it “one of the few companies in the country to have a BVLOS waiver for medical deliveries.” While that’s certainly significant, it’s arguably secondary to the authorization stipulating that “(p)articipating visual observers are also not required to maintain sight of the drones.”

Why’s that monitor-free aspect the one Virginia-based DroneUp probably should have headlined? Because it’s thought to have been the operating capability – or lack thereof – that prevented the startup from receiving work in Walmart’s expansion of its drone deliveries in Dallas-Ft. Worth to 1.8 million homes. 

In announcing that move, the giant retailer said it had tapped Zipline and Wing to provide the required aerial services, passing over DroneUp, in which Walmart has had an ownership stake since 2021. Put that down to BVLOS have and have-not considerations.

In September, Zipline and Wing were among a select group of companies that were issued then-unprecedented FAA BVLOS approval eliminating the habitual requirement of ground observers. That unshackling is considered sine qua non for the veritable scaling of drone delivery across the US. Also included in that cohort were Airobotics, UPS Flight Forward, and Avionix in its partnership with Matternet.

The liberty, flexibility, and speed unleashed by drone flights no longer anchored to ground-based employees schlepping beneath was thought by many sector observers to have been central to Walmart’s decision to go with holders of such BVLOS authorizations. Conversely, it also appeared to be the reason why the chain’s huge drone delivery expansion plan did not include DroneUp.

For many observers, that omission was an ominous sign for DroneUp, as noted DroneAnalyst’s David Benowitz.

Its attainment of the converted FAA observer-free BVLOS authorization may well lift DroneUp’s prospects for additional Walmart business, and broaden its opportunities elsewhere.

For starters, the company plans on using its new flight capacities in its ongoing medical drone delivery activity for Riverside Health System patients in the Eastern Shores section of its Virginia home state. DroneUp also says the greater freedoms afforded by the approval will strengthen its effort to secure new business partners elsewhere in the country.

To further assist that client expansion and scaling ambition, DroneUp CEO Tom Walker says the company will be rolling out new tech and drone delivery innovations intended to demonstrate speculation of its looming demise was premature.

“Securing BVLOS approval is a testament to our dedication to safety and innovation,” Walker said. “We have some significant technologies coming out of stealth this year, which when combined with BVLOS, will unlock commercial scalability that the industry and our customers have been eagerly awaiting.”