Matternet To Test The First Real Drone Delivery System In Switzerland. The Swiss postal service, Swiss Post, is going to attempt drone deliveries for the first time ever using Matternet, a company working on perfecting drone-based delivery systems. The first tests will happen in Switzerland this summer as proof of concept to “to clarify the legal framework, consider local conditions and explore the technical and business capabilities of the drones.” That’s right: robots are about to deliver our mail. The first Matternet drone, called the ONE, can transport items up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) over 20 kilometers – or about 12 miles – on one charge. The company hopes to use the drones to deliver light packages like medicine, documents, and parts. Founded by Andreas Raptopoulos and Paola Santana, the company was rooted in Raptopoulos dream of building a flying car.
After attending the Singularity University summer program at NASA Ames Laboratory, he founded Matternet to bring quadcopters – on a smaller scale – to places where they were needed most. Amazon Begins Testing Its Drone Delivery System In Canada. According to a report from The Guardian, it seems that Amazon has decided to test out its drone delivery system over in Canada after facing some initial reluctance from the US authorities. The report claims that the company has begun testing out their drones in British Columbia and are trying to see if the drones are capable of carrying packages as heavy as 5lbs and flying through airspace of between 200 and 500 feets at speeds up to 50mph. Now some of you guys might be wondering, didn’t the US FAA agree to allow Amazon to begin testing its drones?
Yes the FAA did agree to that, but according to Amazon, it seems that the drone that the FAA approved for testing was a prototype which has since been made obsolete thanks to technological advances. This is because Amazon had put in the request a while ago but the FAA decided to drag their feet which led to that particular model they applied the approval for to become obsolete. Alibaba China drone-based delivery system. The Internet marketplace Alibaba has begun live trials of a drone-based delivery system in China, making it the latest e-commerce company to test remote-controlled copter deliveries with actual customers. It follows the Chinese courier company SF Express, which started experimenting with drone delivery more than a year ago. Meanwhile, Amazon—which hyped the possibility of drone delivery last November—has yet to receive approval for similar U.S. tests involving actual customers.
While the company has been testing its proposed Prime Air service on its own U.S. property and in unspecified overseas locations, there's so far no indication that it's delivered test packages to urban residents the way Alibaba is doing. See also: Why We Need A New Word For Drones Here's what Alibaba is doing, per Bloomberg: The Alibaba tests are scheduled to run through Friday. The prospect of drone delivery has captivated several of the largest Internet companies in the world. Photo courtesy of Alibaba. 37 Critical Problems that need to be Solved for Drone Delivery to become Viable. It all started when Toni, one of our staffers working on our flying drone workshop, asked me a simple question. She asked, “Since I live in an apartment complex, if I order something to be delivered by drone, where would they leave the package?” This naturally led to a longer conversation and we instantly ticked off around a dozen other problems that will need to be overcome before we can expect drone delivery to become a viable option.
As a futurist, I’ve often gotten caught up in understanding what an emerging industry will eventually look like, but tend to gloss over the labyrinth of issues that will invariably plague the early stage pioneers willing to plow through the messy early years and take on all the risks. For example, early stage drone delivery will require a pilot for every package, making it an expensive option. Not only will pilots need to navigate their way to the destination, they’ll need to handle the empty return flight back as well. The Coming “Cautionary Tale” Era 1.
Domino's Tests Delivery of Pizza by Remote-Controlled Drone. SoCo 2Go - Southern Comfort Launches Drone Delivery System. Actually walking three blocks to the liquor store is for suckers. Drone delivery is clearly the way of the future, which is why Southern Comfort is offering to chopper booze straight to your door. After four years of development, the liquor company is ready to launch their "SoCo 2Go" drone delivery system in select cities.
Southern Comfort is currently asking fans to submit their ZIP codes -- the places with the most submissions will serve as the first test markets, but Southern Comfort plans to take the drone delivery system nationwide by the end of the year. SoCo 2Go will specifically hype the brand's new Caramel Comfort, which debuted earlier this month. Kristin Hunt is a Food/Drink staff writer for Thrillist, and would like her liquor to be delivered by parachute. Google Admits Secretly Testing a Drone Delivery System. Google revealed that it has been developing a drone delivery system in the Australian outback, codenamed Project Wing. Nicholas Roy, founder of Project Wing, said the tech giant has been secretly working on the project for two years at Google X, a division of Google dedicated to major technological advancements. It "resulted in a reliable system that can do autonomous delivery.
" In a video released on YouTube Thursday, Google said it is "developing a delivery system that uses self-flying vehicles. " The company said it has had successful tests delivering a first-aid kit, candy bars, dog treats and water to some farmers. "We’re only just beginning to develop the technology to make a safe delivery system possible, but we think that there’s tremendous potential to transport goods more quickly, safely and efficiently," Google wrote on YouTube. By testing in Australia, Google also avoided harsher "remotely piloted aircraft" policies, such as those in the United States, The Atlantic reported. 'Project Wing': Google Unveils New Drone-Delivery System. Move aside, Amazon: Google has revealed its own top-secret drone project. "Project Wing," as the drone program is called, is a product of the company's secretive moonshot lab, Google X.
More than two years in the making, the technology — which is still in the early phase of its development — was first demonstrated in mid-August in Queensland, Australia, The Atlantic reported. Just as the Postal Service and FedEx revolutionized mail delivery, systems like Project Wing could be the next frontier, its makers say. [9 Totally Cool Uses for Drones] "Throughout history there have been a series of innovations that have each taken a huge chunk out of the friction of moving things around," Astro Teller, the leader and so-called "Captain of Moonshots" at Google X, said in a YouTube video.
"'Project Wing' aspires to take another big chunk of the remaining friction out of moving things around in the world. " Why Australia? Burrito Bomber: The world's first airborne Mexican food delivery system. Earlier this year, the world was brought to its knees when it was cruelly teased with the promise of tasty Mexican treats being delivered via quadcopter. We believe everyone deserves carne asada when they want it and so today, we make that dream a reality. We’re proud to introduce: Burrito Bomber -- truly the world's first airborne Mexican food delivery system. It works like this: You connect to the Burrito Bomber web-app and order a burrito.
Your smartphone sends your current location to our server, which generates a waypoint file compatible with the drone's autopilot. We upload the waypoint file to the drone and load your burrito in to our custom made Burrito Delivery Tube. The drone flies to your location and releases the Burrito Delivery Tube. We built Burrito Bomber using a handful of open source projects and some new bits we created ourselves. The airframe is a SkyWalker X8 Flying Wing. The web app is built in Flask. Amazon can now start testing out a drone delivery system in the US.
Amazon has won a license from the US Federal Aviation Administration to start testing a drone program. The “experimental airworthiness certificate” was awarded to Amazon logistics, the shipping arm of Amazon. Test flights must be operated during the daytime, and all data about the flights must be shared monthly with the FAA. Also, in keeping with regulations pushed through in February, the aerial equipment must remain in view of its operators at all times—a requirement that some thought would hamper the company’s development plans.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced his desire to create a drone-based delivery system on CBS’s 60 Minutes in 2013, and the company publicly called on the FAA to change its policies towards drones in 2014. There’s no guarantee that the FAA will grant Amazon a license to operate a full-scale drone program down the line. Read the FAA’s statement in full below: Quartz has reached to Amazon, but the company was not immediately available for comment.