Zipline, Wing enter new drone delivery era with historic FAA waiver

Dallas-area residents will soon witness a historic milestone in drone delivery. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted Alphabet’s Wing Aviation and Zipline International approval to operate their delivery drones simultaneously over the Dallas and Fort Worth suburbs without visual observers. Set to begin in August, these flights mark the first time commercial drones can operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in the US, overcoming a major hurdle in drone delivery.

Typically when operating drones, the drone pilot must be able to see the aircraft at all times. However, new advancements in UAS traffic management (UTM) technology and procedures are helping drones to fly safely and efficiently without manual validation. In this system, the industry manages the airspace with rigorous FAA safety oversight.

“Over the past few years, we’ve built our own product for implementing UTM, which maintains safe, fair, and transparent operations between Zipline and other drone operators,” says Chris Lyons, who heads the UTM division at Zipline.

Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, CEO and cofounder of Zipline, adds, “This approval of Zipline’s UTM system lifts up the entire industry. We’ve been able to leverage Zipline’s expertise and learnings from flying 80 million commercial autonomous miles, to make the entire industry safer, scalable, and more efficient.”

Zipline and Wing began testing the UTM system with BVLOS flights in the Dallas area in 2023, initially with simulations. When live testing began, drones operated in separated airspace. They safely conducted thousands of flights before the FAA issued the authorizations enabling flights in shared airspace. All flights occur below 400 feet altitude and away from any crewed aircraft.

“This is the first time the FAA has recognized a third-party to safely manage drone-to-drone interactions,” says Praveen Raju, a program manager in the FAA’s NextGen Office. “As always, safety comes first, and we required exhaustive research and testing before giving the green light.”

The initial operations will inform FAA efforts to authorize additional UTM services, including improved situational awareness and enhanced cybersecurity. They also will support the FAA’s work to develop UTM rules that allow wide-scale BVLOS drone operations without special authorizations.

Read more: FPV pilots can finally use DJI Goggles 3 with O3 Air Unit