CASA Approves Percepto for BVLOS flight, enabling fully autonomous drones.

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Today, leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider Percepto announced that it has received operational approval to fly its proprietary autonomous drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) at an Australian site. Granted by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the waiver enables Percepto to carry out a completely remote inspection of the facility, paving the way for many similar waivers for Percepto customers nationally.

The achievement is particularly significant for the Australian market, as many facilities based in the country are in remote locations, prompting companies to increasingly introduce remote operations to manage, monitor and secure their sites. The approval will also allow mines, refineries and other high risk sites to more effectively manage safety and environmental risks, while at the same time raising productivity and decreasing downtime.

Percepto and BVLOS Flight

As the provider of the most widely deployed drone-in-a-box solution on the market, Percepto holds an industry leading track record of regulatory firsts. Having recently been invited to join the FAA BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee, the company has also been included among the first group of the FAA’s Type Certification (TC) process.

“Percepto applauds CASA for their efforts to safely integrate autonomous drone technology into commercial operations,” said Percepto CEO and Co-founder Dor Abuhasira. “We are confident that our customers will be able to receive similar approvals in just a few months, putting remote operations centers well into reach for any company building their autonomous drone program.”

“With Percepto gaining this regulatory approval, we see huge possibilities for how autonomous drones can improve remote industrial operations given Australia’s wide-open spaces,” commented Jackie Dujmovic, CEO of Hover UAV and a board member of Safeskies Australia and the Australian Association of Uncrewed Systems. “It’s a game-changer for how managers at critical infrastructure can inspect assets and monitor sites while gaining real-time insights based on collected data faster than ever before. The development is as significant as drones lifting off in Australia for the first time.”

Read more about Percepto’s autonomous drones: Percepto’s new drone, investment, innovations in AI, and work on Florida Power and Light’s network.

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.