In the first fully autonomous urban flight, a drone made a parcel delivery to a residence in Hawthorne, Nevada. It wasn’t from Amazon though. A startup company dispatched the package containing bottled water, emergency food, and a first aid-kit. Created by a Nevada-based startup Flirtey, the drone test flight beat out competitor Amazon.com, Inc.
A Flirtey pilot and several observers were on standby as a backup to the autonomous system during the delivery, but they weren’t needed. Flirtey had already made the first FAA-approved rural drone delivery in July 2015 to a health care clinic in rural Virginia.
The test flight took place on March 10, when the six-rotor drone flew about half a mile along a pre-programmed delivery route and lowered the package outside a vacant Hawthorne residence southwest of Reno. The mission was helped by its partnership with the University of Nevada at Reno. Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney said the delivery demonstrated that advanced drone systems can allow aerial vehicles to safely navigate around buildings, and deliver packages with precision in populated areas.
Credits:
http://www.wkbw.com/news/us-news-world/for-first-time-drone-delivers-package-to-residential-area
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