Walmart is teaming up with drone delivery company Zipline to launch a drone delivery operation in the United States. According to Walmart, this first-of-its-kind drone delivery service will make on-demand deliveries of select health and wellness products with the potential to expand to general merchandise.
Trial deliveries will take place near Walmart’s headquarters in Northwest Arkansas. The trials will use Zipline’s proprietary technology.
Zipline will operate from a Walmart store and can service a 50-mile radius, Walmart said. The company’s launch-and-release system allows for quick on-demand deliveries in under an hour, and it also eliminates carbon emissions, Walmart added.
Zipline began operating in 2016 in Rwanda, primarily focusing on the on-demand delivery of medical supplies. According to Zipline, it has safely delivered more than 200,000 critical medical products to thousands of health facilities serving more than 20 million people across multiple countries.
The operation will likely begin in early 2021, Walmart said.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was entranced by the vision of the future. Decades later, we’re here, with personal jetpacks nowhere in sight. What gives?
Photo: Photo: ridvan_celik/E+/Getty Images
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was entranced by the vision of the future offered by science fiction books, movies, television shows and comics. Advances in technology would deliver us so many wonders — flying cars, hoverboards, robot servants. Disneyland was in on it, with an entire section of the park named Tomorrowland and its now-quaint “Carousel of Progress” attraction.
But the coolest thing would be that jetpack. You could slap it on your back and take off into the atmosphere, traveling wherever you wished like a bird. Certainly by the distant year 2020, we would all be jetting around the atmosphere from place to place.
(It didn’t occur to me that would mean strapping an actual jet engine to my body, along with highly flammable jet fuel. Where’s the fun in that?)
Decades later, we’ve all arrived in the “future,” with personal jetpacks nowhere in sight. What gives?
Then again, what I didn’t imagine in our future was a system that could pinpoint my exact location anywhere on the globe, estimate my time of arrival, and tell me about the traffic up ahead.
Back in the 1960s, that was seriously science fiction. Nor did we accurately predict the effect that capability would have on our daily lives. GPS along with internet-capable smartphones have thrust us into the Information Age.
The internet is a promise delivered, in its own way. Having a repository for all of the world’s information was another future concept, but usually envisioned with a giant worldwide computer that eventually turned on its makers.
As for flying cars, we are gradually getting there. Drone technology, supported by GNSS technology for its navigation, has led to unmanned craft and is heading toward vehicles capable of transporting people. We just need to be a little more patient.
In the spirit of looking back and ahead, check out our 30th Anniversary Supplement, which arrived with this issue. In it, experts from across the industry share memories and thoughts, and gaze into their crystal balls to predict the future of GNSS.
The Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will soon begin testing groundbreaking aviation technology at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted and Major General William Cooley, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) made the announcement April 26 at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
Skyvision was developed in a collaboration between AFRL and the State of Ohio. AFRL and a delegation of Ohio UAS industry experts will showcase the SkyVision system at AUVSI Xponential in Chicago April 30 to May 2 (Booth 4226).
The SkyVision technology safely, accurately and effectively allows drones to detect and avoid other aircraft while in flight. SkyVision can be described as an air traffic control system for drones.
Inside the Skyvision RV. (Photo: Ohio UAS Center)
The validation of this aviation technology led the FAA to grant AFRL a certificate of authorization to test defense-related drone technology without reliance on a visual observer or chase aircraft.
Typically, drones can only fly within the uninterrupted line of sight of the person operating the UAS, but this special waiver allows AFRL and the Ohio UAS Center, which is part of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s DriveOhio Initiative, to use SkyVision to test drones beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) within a 200-square-mile parcel of unrestricted airspace near the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.
“As our country steps more and more into the unmanned age of flight, this technology is on the forefront of the aviation frontier, making Ohio a critical national asset for the research and development of UAS technology,” said Governor DeWine. “This also opens the door for commercial companies to work with Ohio, AFRL, and the FAA to test their own UAS-related
technology using our SkyVision detection system. This is a major step in revolutionizing the transportation industry, with Ohio leading the way in aerospace, defense, and aviation innovation.”
“This is an important development in the progression of unmanned aircraft,” said Major General William Cooley, Commander of AFRL at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “This waiver provides the latitude to test beyond-line-of-sight keeping AFRL on the leading edge of world-class research and accelerates the delivery of technology that makes a difference to the warfighter.”
“By enabling our lower-altitude airspace for advanced modes of transportation, we’ll be able to facilitate new opportunities around advanced autonomous aircraft research and development,” said Lt. Governor Husted. “This will bring investment to Ohio and solidifies Ohio’s position as a world- recognized leader in aviation technology.”
Ohio’s SkyVision detection system could potentially be used by the state to develop and test UAS technology to assist citizens in the event of a natural disaster or to significantly enhance the capability of search and rescue teams to find missing persons in time-critical situations. Commercial companies, such as those looking to use drones to survey damaged infrastructure or hoping to launch drone commerce operations, will also now have incentive to move to Ohio to test their own UAS technology.
VyrtX, a company based out of Dayton, is among the first companies that has committed to expand into Springfield to work with AFRL and the Ohio UAS Center. VyrtX is currently developing technology for the potential transport of organ donations between hospitals for transplant surgeries.
UAS test flights will take place at heights ranging from 1,000 feet above ground to 10,000 feet mean sea level. Air traffic control experts from the Ohio UAS Center will operate SkyVision during each flight. The SkyVision detection system is located within a mobile unit so that it can be flexibly placed in optimum positions for each flight.
“Today’s announcement comes after years of hard work and collaboration among an incredible group of partners,” said Jeff Hoagland, President and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition. “AFRL and Ohio had a bold vision to bring UAS into the national airspace for true beyond-visual- line-of-sight flight. The work done here will shape the industry for years to come.”
The State of Ohio and AFRL both invested a combined $5 million for the research and development of SkyVision.
Supported by the Ohio Department of Transportation, DriveOhio works to ensure Ohio’s regulatory environment and public policies are conducive to the development of the infrastructure and technologies needed for smart mobility.
