A drone has successfully delivered a package to a residential location in a Nevada town in what its maker and the state’s governor said on Friday was the first fully autonomous urban drone delivery in the US.
Flirtey Inc chief executive officer Matt Sweeney said the six-rotor drone flew about a half-mile along a programmed delivery route on March 10 and lowered the package outside a vacant residence in Hawthorne, Nevada.
PILOT NOT NEEDED
Photo: AP
The route was established using GPS. A pilot and visual observers were on standby during the flight but were not needed, Sweeney said.
He said the package included bottled water, food and a first-aid kit.
“Conducting the first drone delivery in an urban setting is a major achievement, taking us closer to the day that drones make regular deliveries to your front doorstep,” Sweeney said.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval congratulated the company “on successfully completing the nation’s first fully autonomous urban package delivery.”
TEST SITE
NASA is working with the drone industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on a low-altitude air traffic control system to prevent crashes involving drones and other low-altitude aircraft.
Nevada is one of six states the FAA has designated as unmanned aircraft systems test sites.
Flirtey conducted the first FAA-approved, rural drone delivery in July last year to a healthcare clinic in Virginia. The company recently moved its headquarters from Australia to Nevada.
The Nevada delivery demonstrates that advanced drone systems allow aerial vehicles to safely navigate around buildings and deliver packages with precision within a populated area, Sweeney said.
SUCCESS
“This was by far one of the most successful [unmanned aircraft systems] operations we ran and represents an advanced level of test and development ... by Flirtey,” said Chris Walach, director of operations for the FAA-designated Nevada site.
Annual sales of drones in the US are expected to hit 2.5 million this year and swell to 7 million by 2020, according to a projection from the FAA.
Unmanned aircraft purchases are growing both for hobbyists and for commercial ventures that perform inspections, assist farmers, and survey construction sites, according to the agency’s annual forecast of aviation activity, released on Thursday last week.
REGULATIONS
While the FAA is not expected to issue regulations allowing commercial uses of drones until later this year, it has granted more than 4,100 exemptions for businesses flying unmanned craft. The initial regulations would allow limited flights during the day and within sight of an operator on the ground, according to the agency.
The agency expects to later issue regulations allowing flights over longer distances and for purposes such as delivering products to people’s homes.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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