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Amazon plans the largest headcount reduction in its history, slashing 18,000 jobs to improve financials.

Drone corridor plans overcome biggest challenge in UAV sector, enabling stakeholders to scale up tech solutions to business problems.

In 2013, Jeff Bezos revealed plans for Prime Air – Amazon's drone delivery service. 2014 saw announcements of major logistics companies partnering with emerging drone startups. By 2017, there was radio silence. The hype largely fizzled out and drone delivery never really materialized beyond basic proof of concept tests. Only a few companies were the exception, such as Zipline, which thrived on highly-specific use cases.

Walmart's drone delivery may give new meaning to the phrase "last minute shopping." Just in time for Christmas, the drone delivery service is now available from 11 new stores in the Dallas area.

Researchers at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) have demonstrated the value of drone delivery platforms to assist in search and rescue operations, by providing remote guided medical triage for simulated injured hikers. Leveraging remote medical triage will help buy rescuers invaluable time to reach victims and extract them to a trauma centre.

Drone Industry Insights (DRONEII) has named this year's top drone service providers.

ANRA Technologies, a leader in integrated airspace, mission management and delivery systems for uncrewed aircraft, today announced it has won a contract to demonstrate the ability to collect, aggregate and retransmit Broadcast Remote ID (B-RID) messages.

Dronamics, the leading middle-mile cargo drone developer and operator, and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS), a leading innovator in the development of zero emissions solutions for aerospace, announced that they will be combining their expertise to integrate hydrogen fuel-cell technology into the Black Swan, the long-range cargo drone developed by Dronamics.

It's year five, or maybe 10, of "drones are going to revolutionize transport," and so far we've got very little to show for it. Maybe it's time to put these foolish ambitions to rest and focus on where this technology could actually do some good, rather than pad out a billionaire's bottom line or let the rich skip traffic.

https://www.suasnews.com/2022/10/droneup-partners-with-the-utah-department-of-transportation-division-of-aeronautics-for-air-mobility-urban-planning/

For the third time, autonomous drone technology leader Everdrone has made the list of Ny Teknik's Top 33 Most Promising Tech Companies in Sweden.

The first World Drone Prix took place in Dubai in 2016.  Dubai was the first place in the world to showcase a drone taxi, implementing a fixed route back in 2017.

SkyDrop (formerly Flirtey) has released episode one of a documentary series "The SkyDrop Story", to tell the historical story of the first FAA-approved drone delivery on US soil.

Florida-based startup Undefined Technologies has announced that its Silent Ventus ion propulsion eVTOL drone has cleared an essential test flight.

Basically, a drone can be defined as an unmanned vehicle that's capable of autonomously maintaining a controlled and sustained level of flight.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is testing its uncrewed traffic management system that would allow drones to operate at low altitudes beyond the operator's line of sight.

Virginia Tech has won its sixth major federal contract to lead research on an increasingly urgent question: How to safely manage drone traffic.

Rebounding off its participation in the August 3 White House summit on advanced air mobility (AAM), sector lobbying organization Commercial Drone Alliance has gone on the offensive with praise of the Biden administration's initiative in support of next-generation aerial activities, but with criticism of regulatory constrictions it says stifles increased UAV services in the US.

The Race For Last Mile Drones
Steve Banker
Contributor
I cover logistics and supply chain management.
Aug 16, 2022,08:57am EDT

Picture it. Using an app, you order a new mobile phone on Amazon or a burger from your favorite restaurant. A mere 20 minutes later, you get an alert on your phone and head out to the backyard to see a drone descending from the sky holding your package. Your package gently drops to the ground, and the drone flies off. And it's being led by retail behemoths Amazon, Walmart, and a slew of food delivery companies.

Before the COVID pandemic, a trickle of homeowners and apartment tenants had delivery trucks combing their streets dropping off internet-purchased packages.
The pandemic has accelerated the trickle to a flood, not only the delivering but the need for safe, secure storage upon drop-off.

The newly release Amazon drone delivery video, embedded below, shows off Amazon's latest aircraft model – and reveals their proposed mode of delivery.  Amazon's delivery program is set to begin in California and Texas later this year.

Commercial drone delivery solutions developer A2Z Drone Delivery is launching its second generation Rapid Delivery System, the RDS2.

NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement with San Francisco-based Zipline "to pursue a future vision of U.S. aviation that includes delivery drones and air taxis," says the NASA announcement.

NASA and the FAA are working to revolutionize air traffic control for the drone era.

Last week, leading provider of multi-drone operating system FlightOps employed its software for the delivery of medical laboratory tests via drones, which maintained the quality of the transported samples while traveling between hospitals.

In a blog post, Wing CEO Adam Woodworth wrote that Wing is developing an "aircraft library" – a "variety of different vehicles tailored for specific use cases."  Having proven the viability of commercial drone delivery, Wing is now working to address supply chain issues througout the ecosystem – from the delivery of one small bottle of medicine to the delivery of larger objects.

57% said they have little or no trust in drones to safely deliver products to homes and businesses, according to a Morning Consult survey

Small drones delivering packages, air taxis carrying passengers, or air ambulance providing lifesaving transportation – these are just some of the concepts NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) mission is helping get into our skies. For these aircraft to safely operate, cities, suburbs, and rural areas will need new or enhanced infrastructure.

Before drones are flying around our burritos, prescriptions and maybe giving us a quote on roof repair, we're going to need some infrastructure to enable this transformation.

The University of Arkansas announced Tuesday it had been awarded a new planning grant that would support its vision for smart mobility initiatives

The explosion of online shopping and our growing global economy makes shipping and delivery more important than ever. Faster is better, but what does the future of delivery really look like? Most people would answer "drones" and other methods of rapid, within-the-hour doorstep drop-offs.

Swoop Aero has also completed its Series B funding round, while EASA has put forward proposals a new regulatory framework for drones and VTOL aircraft in European Union airspace

AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE American: UAVS) ("AgEagle" or the "Company"), an industry-leading provider of full-stack drone, sensor and software solutions for commercial and government/defense use, today reported that steps taken to increase supply due to significant demand for its new MicaSense Altum-PT and RedEdge-P sensors, and its legacy RedEdge-MX sensors, will enable the Company to ship  more than $2 million in backlogged purchase orders in the third quarter, ending September 30, 2022. In addition, AgEagle expects to meet ongoing global market demand for its multispectral sensors moving forward, notwithstanding any further unforeseen delays. 

Today, leading U.S. healthcare organizations Novant Health, Magellan Rx Management, and Cardinal Health launched long-range drone delivery systems in North Carolina, powered by instant logistics leader Zipline.

Drones have emerged as an important tool in the delivery of medicines around the world. Here are three main ways these unmanned vehicles are transforming the supply chain

Amazon customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the U.S.

Amazon customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first to receive Prime Air drone deliveries in the U.S.

Supernal is a Hyundai Motor Group-owned advanced air mobility service provider.

Supernal is a Hyundai Motor Group-owned advanced air mobility service provider.

Drone capabilities are set to expand at Westcott Space Cluster as leading drone services provider Skyports selects the south of England site as its European headquarters and centre of excellence.

As part of the Flying Forward 2020 program, the High Tech Campus became a living lab for testing autonomous drone operations.

The commercialization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) necessitates that their control becomes more precise and responsive. For instance, drone delivery necessitates transporting goods to a confined target area in a variety of weather conditions; drone rescue and search necessitates entering and searching collapsed buildings with limited space; and urban air mobility necessitates a flying car to closely adhere to a planned trajectory to avoid collision in the presence of strong, unpredictable winds.

An air taxi company is proposing to bring its fleet of electric aircraft to Tampa Bay. 

Following its successful coordination of the recent First Responder Unmanned Aircraft System Triple Challenge, Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus has again been selected to lead an unmanned aircraft systems competition that will award prize money to winners.

David Guggina, Senior Vice President of Innovation and Automation, Walmart U.S.
says WalMart continues to expand delivery operations to help customers get the items they need when they need them, and it's been an exciting journey. From Express delivery, where customers can have items delivered to their doorsteps in as little as two hours, to InHome, where they can get those orders placed right into their refrigerators, we're proud to offer customers multiple options that help them save time and money.

Advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles may be the aviation industry's shiny new object, but there is more to consider before they become commercially viable—not the least of which is the ground infrastructure that will support them, AAM stakeholders say.

When infrastructure breaks down, business slows down. If you have ever sat in a traffic jam caused by road construction, you know what I'm talking about. Traffic congestion slows down everyone, including the more than 1.3 million delivery drivers on the road in the US. In his book The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure, Henry Petroski says traffic congestion is costing the US economy more than $120 billion per year.

German drone delivery company Wingcopter announced on May 11th that the Federal Aviation Administration has issued the Special Class Airworthiness Criteria for the Wingcopter 198 US unmanned aircraft. This approval marks an important milestone in the certification process of Wingcopter's flagship eVTOL delivery drone in the U.S.

AeroPest Announces New Markets for it's Internationally Patent Pending Precision Spraying Drone