Drone Delivery

In a world-first flight and a significant step for human medicine, a University of Maryland drone has delivered a donor kidney to surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center, before being successfully transplanted into a patient with kidney failure. It’s an exciting development in the use of drones to …

image courtesy Zipline It’s been quite a week for drone delivery.  The FAA announced that Wing had received the first ever airline carrier for drones authorization, which would open the doors to commercial package delivery in the United States. Now, global drone delivery heroes Zipline, who established a ground-breaking medical …

Wing, the Alphabet (Google) spin off, has quietly overtaken Amazon and other consumer drone delivery programs to be first to the finish line in the U.S. and around the globe. Earlier this month, Wing announced that the Australian government had given the company permission to move beyond their drone delivery …

This week, Google spin off Project Wing featured in two big pieces of news in the drone industry.  First came the news that the company had won the approval of the Australian aviation authorities for their drone delivery program – something that Wing discussed in detail at last fall’s Amsterdam Drone …

From the distance comes a high-pitched whining. It sounds horrible, like a giant mosquito. Or maybe a herd of angry mice screaming in a wind tunnel. It is in fact a flying burrito. And it’s flying courtesy of Wing’s ambitious drone delivery program. That’s right: Google/Alphabet’ Project Wing has been …

It’s often said that if you wish for something hard enough, it might just come true. That appears to be the latest avenue the team at Amazon is exploring as part of ongoing efforts to get the company’s drone delivery ambitions off the ground. Amazon Prime Air has become better …

image courtesy Skyports UK-based drone infrastructure firm Skyports and partners have successfully completed drone delivery trials in an urban environment and near a major international airport. Skyports specializes in drone delivery: designing, building, securing and operating cargo and passenger “vertiports” where drones may safely launch and land.  Having a conveniently located …

We often think of drone deliveries as being most useful in remote, hard-to-reach locations. Usually, that involves providing a cargo-carrying alternative in rural areas or a link to places cut off by natural disasters. But ‘hard-to-reach’ can also apply in some of the world’s busiest ports. A drone delivery project with …

Spanish UAV manufacturer Alpha Unmanned Systems is one of several UAV companies chosen to participate in Inmarsat´s UAV Pop-up lab. The satellite and communications giant is using the program to explore the value of satcoms in the commercial UAV sector. Along with six other UAV companies, Alpha Unmanned Systems will execute …

DroneLife recently caught up with David Rovira, Co-Founder and COO of Rigi Technologies, manufacturers of a new delivery drone built around the package.  (Check out the video below to see Rigi’s unique design.) David tells us about Rigi, where they fit in the delivery marketplace, and some of the challenges of using …