Drone Delivery

Up-and-coming cargo delivery drone developer MightyFly is preparing what the company calls the first public demonstration of an autonomous, fixed-wing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with planned flights in Michigan of its third-generation UAV hauling 100 lb. of freight.

Newly published figures are offering an idea of just how enormous the problem of drone use to deliver contraband to prisons around the world has become, showing nearly 100 suspected UAV drops made to a single Canadian jail last year alone.

It looks like Spright, the drone services division of air medical service provider Air Methods, is set to receive what is being called the only universal and fully autonomous drone docking station in the world. Israel-based StrixDrones tells DroneDJ that the first units of its highly advanced Strix2100 DroneDock are now rolling off the assembly line in Dayton, Ohio.

Aerial transport company Drone Delivery Canada has added new capacities to its growing array of UAV activities by obtaining approval from regulators for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of dangerous goods as part of its Care by Air program.

Even as leading drone delivery company Zipline readies the operational launch of its new Platform 2 network for commercial clients in the US, the company is fêting the anniversary of its groundbreaking healthcare distribution work in Africa ­– an activity that has already benefitted millions of people, and which is now set to be extended and diversified with the backing of trans-Atlantic government partners.

Drone logistics company Aviant has announced the launch of its home delivery service, Kyte. Drones will now deliver groceries, takeaway food, and non-prescription medicines to sparsely populated areas and vacation homes in Norway. In addition, Aviant has landed $1 million in funding from Innovation Norway to autonomously deliver vital prescription medicines directly from pharmacies to people in remote and suburban areas.

Skyports Drone Services has moved to expand its international footprint and multiply its activities across Asia with new medical UAV delivery trials to remote destinations in Thailand.

Medical technology company Siemens Healthineers says it plans to roll out a drone delivery solution to transport laboratory diagnostics materials as well as other medical supplies in Africa. The company is joining forces with Wingcopter, a German developer and operator of delivery drones, for this initiative.

Top US cargo carrier Ameriflight has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate drone deliveries as part of its regular services, and will soon begin using California-based UAV developer Matternet’s M2 craft and navigating systems to launch that activity.

As reported in past posted, the Ford Motor Co. is busy working on ways to integrate drones for use with its cars, trucks, and vans, with a newly published patent indicating how the automotive giant is looking to facilitate delivery craft landing on moving vehicles.

Swiss UAV medical drone delivery specialist RigiTech has announced a strategic partnership with US UAV healthcare transport company Spright, aiming to extend their mutual activities across Europe and the globe.

Silicon giant Alphabet’s Wing drone delivery company has passed several significant milestones in developing its operations around the world over the last year, but now it’s boasting an accomplishment with virtually zero chance of becoming a recurring use case – lowering a payload of peanuts and beer along the outfield foul lines of the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field.

Though clearly still in the early stages of their development and growth, rapidly scaling drone delivery services made the ascending activity seems invulnerable to the layoffs rocking the wider US tech sector – an assumption that Amazon, and now DroneUp are have proven incorrect.

The UK’s Skyports Drone Services has added a new activity to its ship-to-shore aerial activities with the introduction Cash-to-Master (CTM) operations, shuttling reserves of money between anchored and harbored vessels and officials on the ground.

German UAV manufacturer and service provider Wingcopter has received a major cash infusion from the European Investment Bank (EIB) of €40 million ($43.8 million), designed to fund scaling of the company’s international drone delivery activities.

Following the rollout of its entirely revamped and updated drone delivery hardware and configuration strategy, leading instant logistics company Zipline is expanding its client base and geographical reach with three new customers.

Leading drone delivery company and longtime Walmart aerial transportation partner DroneUp is partnering with Israeli startup Wonder Robotics in an effort to increase the autonomy and efficiency of its UAV operations.

DroneUp, the drone delivery company that Walmart uses, has announced a major push to make beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights safer. DroneUp has partnered with Iris Automation, a developer of AI-based vision technology for crewed and uncrewed aircraft to prevent airborne collisions. Together, these firms will install hardware nodes that will act like a cellular tower-type service providing DroneUp with visibility of its airspace.

Leading instant logistics specialist Zipline isn’t just turning heads with its increasingly innovative drone delivery activity around the globe, but it is now also causing jaws to drop with fundraising effectiveness that has reportedly almost doubled its valuation to $4.2 billion.

Commercial drone solutions specialist A2Z Drone Delivery has developed a long-range hybrid VTOL aircraft that can carry 11 lbs (5 kg) payloads over a distance of 24.8 miles (40 km). According to A2Z, the operating cost of its new flagship RDSX Pelican delivery drone is as little as 13 cents per kg per km. 

A trial program overseen by the UK’s Skyports Drone Services in Scotland is in the running for a national award for its efforts in pioneering UAV transport of meals to remote Highland schools.