SpiceJet, Dunzo Air Consortium, Skylark Drones, and Swiggy, among others, were granted experimental drone flight operations beyond the visual line of sight by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Tuesday.
Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Saubika Consortium, Skylark Drones & Swiggy, ShopX Omnipresent Consortium, Spicejet Ltd, Terradrone Consortium B, The Consortium, Throttle Aerospace Systems Pvt. Ltd., Value Thought IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Virginia Tech India, Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu (AIDAT), ANRA Consortium A, ANRA Consortium B, Asteria Aerospace Pvt Ltd, AutoMicroUAS Aerotech Pvt. Ltd, Centillion Networks Pvt. Ltd, ClearSky Flight Consortium, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Pvt. Ltd, Dunzo Air Consortium are among the 20 organisations involved.
The ministry granted 20 organisations a conditional exemption from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, allowing them to perform experimental drone flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
The ministry said in a statement that the BVLOS trials would help develop a structure for potential drone deliveries and other major drone applications. The government established the ‘BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring (BEAM) Committee’, to solicit Expressions of Interest (EOI) for BVLOS drone experimentation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) released an EOI notice in 2019.
The BEAM Committee considered all 34 EOls and chose 20 consortia for the experimental flights. These exemptions are contingent on strict adherence to the conditions outlined in the EOI notice as well as the BEAM Committee’s directions/exemptions issued (or to be issued in the future). This conditional exemption will be valid for one year or until further orders are given, whichever comes first.
Earlier, the drones were being used in Singapore and the US for delivery purposes keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing norms to be followed to ensure the safety of the customers.
On Monday, April 12, this year, , Domino’s Pizza Inc along with Nuro Inc, a Silicon Valley company, revealed that an automated food delivery service will be introduced in Houston this week, to fulfil the pandemic’s online purchases.
Nuro has been winning regulatory approvals ahead of other autonomous vehicle startups by using lightweight, low-speed vehicles to transport parcels rather than people. The US government gave it permission to start automated home delivery last year.
Nuro recently secured a $500 million investment that included an investment fund from Woven Capital, the mobility investment group of a Toyota Motor Corp affiliate, taking its total valuation to more than $5 billion, as per an individual familiar with the case.
A Singapore technology firm has introduced a couple of robots to deliver products to customers in one area of the city-state, aiming to take advantage of a surge in demand for delivery services.
In a one-year experiment produced by OTSAW Digital, the robotics’ services were offered to 600 families under the name “Camello.”
People can order milk and egg deliveries, and an application will alert them whenever the robot is close to the pick-up spot, which is usually an apartment complex lobby.
