Tag: Drone Delivery
Volansi Launches Healthcare Drone Delivery Program in North Carolina
Volansi, a Silicon Valley-backed startup specializing in middle-mile drone delivery services, announces it has begun a commercial healthcare drone delivery project in North Carolina. In collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, Volansi is piloting the delivery of cold chain medicines from Merck’s Wilson, N.C. manufacturing site to Vidant Healthplex-Wilson, a Vidant Health clinic, as the first...

Volansi Launches Healthcare Drone Delivery Program in North Carolina

Volansi, a Silicon Valley-backed startup specializing in middle-mile drone delivery services, announces it has begun a commercial healthcare drone delivery project in North Carolina.
In collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, Volansi is piloting the delivery of cold chain medicines from Merck’s Wilson, N.C. manufacturing site to Vidant Healthplex-Wilson, a Vidant Health clinic, as the first of three phases in a project to learn about drone technology’s role and ability to improve access to healthcare.
With 1.4 million people across 29 counties, eastern North Carolina’s vast, rural environment can create challenges for accessing care. Initial flights in the project resulted in the first drone delivery of temperature-controlled medicines within the U.S. In response to these topographical challenges, Volansi will utilize its VOLY C10, an all-electric drone capable of carrying 10-pounds of cargo to locations up to 50 miles away. The VOLY C10’s vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) system allows it to deliver fragile cargo with a “soft touch” automated release once the drone has landed at the delivery location. The VTOL system also requires minimal infrastructure to operate and is also capable of delivering on the returning flight items to support order confirmation like temperature trackers and shipping confirmation.
“As a healthcare leader, Merck is very supportive of collaborations using new technologies to explore how one day we could help better serve the healthcare community. Our existing distribution system is strong, and this pilot helps us explore new innovative delivery options that would complement our existing supply chain capabilities,” said Craig Kennedy, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain Management, Merck.
Volansi is also collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program and the North Carolina Department of Transportation to ensure that its deliveries are made safely and in accordance with state and federal guidelines. The company is simultaneously seeking approval from the FAA to provide deliveries in additional locations, for phases two and three of the project, enabling a flexible, on-demand, and responsive supply of critical medicines.
As stated by Volansi CEO and Co- Founder Hannan Parvizian, “We are at the cusp of an exciting new endeavor. As we seek FAA approval to expand the project’s scope to additional delivery locations, our vision for a world where everybody has ready access to life-saving medical supplies is becoming clearer by the day.”
Why it’s important: Merck and Volansi have had many collaborations across the years, including an initiative to deliver temperature-sensitive medicines in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico after the devastation of hurricanes Maria and Florence. Although only a first step, these demonstrations foreshadow the potential for players in the rising aerial mobility industry to redefine the biopharmaceutical supply chain of the future. Recently, companies such as Falck have already made public their intention to establish VTOL emergency response efforts with unmanned drone programs. Ultimately, these programs will be able to get paramedics to the scene of an emergency faster than ever.
Related: Falck Initiates Manned Drone Paramedics Program
Source // Volansi press release
Walmart Begins On-Demand Drone Delivery Program with Flytrex
Just days after Amazon Prime Air has received FAA approval for drone deliveries, Walmart has initiated a program with Flytrex for its own drone delivery service. Upon announcing the new initiative, Walmart looked back on a quote from founder Sam Walton: “I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.” It remains...

Walmart Begins On-Demand Drone Delivery Program with Flytrex

Just days after Amazon Prime Air has received FAA approval for drone deliveries, Walmart has initiated a program with Flytrex for its own drone delivery service.
Upon announcing the new initiative, Walmart looked back on a quote from founder Sam Walton: “I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.” It remains a guiding principle at Walmart to this day, according to the company. “From being an early pioneer of universal bar codes and electronic scanning cash registers to our work on autonomous vehicle delivery, we’re working to understand how these technologies can impact the future of our business and help us better serve our customers.”
“Our latest initiative has us exploring how drones can deliver items in a way that’s convenient, safe, and – you guessed it – fast. Today, we’re taking the next step in our exploration of on-demand delivery by announcing a new pilot with Flytrex, an end-to-end drone delivery company.”
Related: FAA Approves UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries
The pilot program launched as of September 9th in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and focuses on delivering select grocery and household essential items from Walmart stores using Flytrex’s automated drones. The drones, which are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard, will help us gain valuable insight into the customer and associate experience, from picking and packing to takeoff and delivery. The announcement of Walmart’s new program accompanies various other recent efforts as the U.S. retailer looks to bolster its delivery business.
Why it’s important:
In a press release, Walmart acknowledged the long road ahead; “we know that it will be some time before we see millions of packages delivered via drone. That still feels like a bit of science fiction, but we’re at a point where we’re learning more and more about the technology that is available and how we can use it to make our customers’ lives easier. Take for example our autonomous vehicle work with Gatik, Ford and Nuro – we’ve gained loads of valuable insight into how autonomous vehicles fit within our business.”
Ultimately, it’s learnings from pilots such as this that will help shape the potential of drone delivery on a larger scale and expand Walmart beyond its reputation as a company specializing in in-store shopping. Fortunately, Amazon’s Prime Air business arm has begun to pave the way for certification with its official Part 135 approval to begin operating commercial deliveries on a trial basis.
Source // Walmart press release
Alphabet’s Wing and FedEx Offer Residential Drone Delivery Service
Alphabet’s Wing drones begin the delivery of select FedEx packages directly to Virginia homes. On October 18, for the first time in the United States, a drone completed a scheduled commercial residential delivery. The drone delivery was conducted by Wing Aviation, in collaboration with FedEx Express, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program...

Alphabet’s Wing and FedEx Offer Residential Drone Delivery Service

Alphabet’s Wing drones begin the delivery of select FedEx packages directly to Virginia homes.
On October 18, for the first time in the United States, a drone completed a scheduled commercial residential delivery. The drone delivery was conducted by Wing Aviation, in collaboration with FedEx Express, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program (IPP). The FedEx Express package delivery to a home in Christiansburg, Virginia marks the launch of the first scheduled, commercial residential drone delivery service and the first scheduled e-commerce delivery via drone delivery trial in the United States.
For the duration of the trial, Wing drones will transport select FedEx packages to qualifying homes in Christiansburg, demonstrating the benefits of drone delivery for last-mile delivery service. Wing received an expanded air carrier certificate from the FAA earlier this year so it could demonstrate safe commercial operation in the larger Blacksburg-Roanoke area. Meanwhile, the FAA Approved UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries, making UPS the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification. Learn more about the launch of the company’s service and its collaboration with drone technology company, Matternet, here.
“Innovation has been part of the FedEx DNA since day one, and we are always looking for new and better ways to deliver the world to our customers’ doorsteps,” said Don Colleran, President & CEO of FedEx Express. “For our customers in Christiansburg, this collaboration will test the latest innovation in the last mile of a residential package delivery. We hope that this latest addition to our delivery options will enhance the last mile service for urgent same-day deliveries, customers in rural or semi-rural areas, and other exceptional delivery needs.”
Customers of FedEx who live within designated delivery zones in Christiansburg, Virginia, and who opt-in to the Wing delivery service, will be able to receive eligible packages via drone during the trial program, provided certain operating conditions are met. Wing’s pilot program also includes a collaboration with Walgreens, allowing program participants to order health and wellness products through Wing’s delivery app.
To learn more about Wing’s U.S. commercial drone delivery pilot program, visit wing.com/virginia.
Why it’s important: Although Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is limited by the region in which it can commercially operate its Wing drones, Virginia is showing to be a successful proving grounds. With the launch of home deliveries, Wing has also managed to beat out Amazon Prime Air in the pursuit of offering last-mile package deliveries via drone. However, there is still ample market share for manufacturers and operators to begin offering similar services, as intended by the FedEx-Wing and UPS-Matternet collaborations.
Source // FedEx Newsroom; Wing Aviation
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FAA Approves UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries
UPS now operates the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification. UPS, which operates 564 owned and leased traditional airplanes, has long been in the business of delivering parcels as well as heavy cargo, and now plans to use drone technologies to expand its scope. The company plans to announce strategic partnerships with drone makers, designers of...

FAA Approves UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries

UPS now operates the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification.

Photograph: UPS
UPS, which operates 564 owned and leased traditional airplanes, has long been in the business of delivering parcels as well as heavy cargo, and now plans to use drone technologies to expand its scope. The company plans to announce strategic partnerships with drone makers, designers of traffic-management systems, and customers such as retailers. As a certified airline operator, UPS prioritizes and specializes in logistics. Thus, it will continue to rely on the technologies of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to enable its vision, just as companies such as Boeing have supplied UPS with commercial jets for years.
Photograph: UPS
Prior to this month’s Part-135 certification acquisition, UPS has been conducting drone deliveries at a large hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. The operations have been ongoing since March of this year, and are in collaboration with drone technology company Matternet. As explained in a recent press release, “the company will initially expand its drone delivery service further to support hospital campuses around the country, and to provide solutions for customers beyond those in the healthcare industry. UPS Flight Forward plans in the future to transport a variety of items for customers in many industries, and regularly fly drones beyond the operators’ visual line of sight (BVLOS).” In fact, the company has already completed its first flight BVLOS – immediately after acquiring the certification – by performing a revenue delivery at WakeMed’s hospital campus in Raleigh, N.C.
UPS has beaten out competitors, such as Amazon’s Prime Air and Alphabet’s Wing, as the first to receive a full Part-135 certification. This will allow the operator to begin revenue flights of its commercial drone service throughout the entire United States. Wing recently received a similar certification, but with limited scope – the company is currently permitted to operate only in Christiansburg, VA, and with only one pilot, under a ‘Single pilot air carrier certificate’.
Why it’s important: As stated by Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao in an FAA release on Tuesday, “this is a big step forward in safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace, expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina and building on the success of the national UAS Integration Pilot Program to maintain American leadership in unmanned aviation.” The certification paves a way for future drone airlines to stand up commercial operations, without being restricted to line-of-sight or daytime flights.
Source // UPS Pressroom
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Drone Package Delivery in the US: Google’s Wing is First
Alphabet’s Wing Aviation is the first company to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate as an airline for drone delivery in the United States. Alphabet, parent company of Google, took in Wing Aviation as an independent subsidiary as of July 2018. Since then, Wing has been closely working with FAA regulatory officials to submit evidence and demonstrate that...

Drone Package Delivery in the US: Google’s Wing is First

Alphabet’s Wing Aviation is the first company to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate as an airline for drone delivery in the United States. Alphabet, parent company of Google, took in Wing Aviation as an independent subsidiary as of July 2018. Since then, Wing has been closely working with FAA regulatory officials to submit evidence and demonstrate that their operations are safe.
Wing has worked for six years to build a small, lightweight aircraft and navigational system that can safely deliver small packages on demand to specific destinations in only a few minutes. The company has since flown over 70,000 test flights, and more than 3,000 deliveries to doorsteps, driveways and backyards of customers in Australia. To achieve this, the aircraft employs a hover propellor used to reduce noise, wings designed for efficient horizontal flight, a retractable tether for raising and lowering packages, and many other technical features.

A Virginia family receives a delivery as part of a Wing test flight in conjunction with the FAA.
Throughout the testing, safety has been emphasized as Wing Aviation’s number one priority. Additionally, the company has highlighted other the potential for the air delivery service to bolster local business, minimize carbon emissions and relieve road congestion, all while maintaining community and customer privacy.
Wing Aviation has also been working closely with the Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP), which was created by the FAA. They have utilized this working relationship with the FAA to also be allocated a flight testing area near Virginia Tech, where flights have been conducted since 2016. With its new Air Carrier Certification in hand, the company says it hopes to expand deliveries in southwest Virginia, recruiting businesses and potential customers in the Blacksburg and Christiansburg areas who want to try out the delivery system.
Why it’s important: In order to make low-altitude airspace viable for drone transit, Wing Aviation plans to continue working closely with regulators and the aviation community in general. For the time being, the Air Carrier Certification is an important step that will ultimately allow Wing to create air delivery services for communities in the United States. Their service is enabling busy consumers to focus more time on the things that matter by providing access to goods such as food or medicine.
Sources // Wing, JustHelicopters
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