UPS open ocean drone delivery test a success

A UPS drone took a three mile trip over open ocean outside of Salem, Mass. this week as part of a series of tests to show unmanned aerial vehicles can safely be used for deliveries in the United States.

The test was meant to simulate delivery of urgently needed medicine from Beverly, Mass. to Children's Island, which is home to a YMCA day camp.

While only a trial, it’s one of many efforts to gather data to aid the Federal Aviation Administration as it seeks to find ways to safely integrate drones into Americas's airspace, in this case showing that drones can be trusted to fly farther than the pilot can see.

“It’s a really big step towards having drones do all kinds of deliveries,” said Helen Grenier, chief technology officer for CyPhy Works, the company that built the drone.

“After all, the closest distance between any two points is as the drone flies,” she said.

The 42-inch drone weighed about ten pounds and was capable of carrying a five-pound payload. The three mile trip to the island took about eight minutes, with the drone flying at about 22 miles per hour, she said.

UPS’ Strategic Enterprise Fund has invested in CyPhy Works, a Danvers, Mass.-based drone and technology company, to aid its ongoing investigations into drones as possible ways to deliver packages.

The drone was autonomous and had no pilot.

“You push a button, say ‘deliver’ and it heads off and does it,” Grenier said.

In order to comply with current FAA rules, there was also a certified “pilot in command” monitoring the tests. And because the regulations say drones may only be flown within line-of-sight of the pilot, a boat had to follow the drone in its trip across the water to the island, said Grenier.

UPS  is already testing drones in warehouses to check high storage racks to confirm stock or available space. The company is also exploring the use of drones to deliver humanitarian aid in hard-to-reach parts of the world and has done tests in Rwanda.

The delivery company says the public tests in Massachusetts are the first phase of understanding how to use drones to access hard to reach locations or for urgent deliveries.

“Our focus is on real-world applications that benefit our customers,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability.

FAA completed its rule for small commercial drones in June. That allows any business to fly drones weighing up to 55 pounds during the day within sight of the pilot in unpopulated areas up to 400 feet off the ground, or 400 feet from taller buildings or utility towers.

Drone rule takes effect Monday, awaited by thousands

The next proposed rule, expected by the end of the year, will deal with flying drones over people who are not associated with the flight. Issues to be addressed include how to deal with losing connection with the drone from the remote-control and padding the drone in case it were to crash.

A long road ahead

The Massachusetts tests are not the first over-water drone delivery flights. German’s Deutsche Post DHL conducted a similar test two years ago from the German harbor town of Norddeich to Juist, a small island seven and a half miles off shore

Despite the thrilling image of a drone zipping over the waters to a hypothetical sick child, the actuality is a long ways away, said Colin Snow, CEO of Skylogic Research, a California drone consulting firm.

“These kinds of tests are going to happen and we’re going to see more of them in the headlines, but it doesn’t mean that we’re doing to see drone deliveries tomorrow or the next day or next year,” he said.

The FAA is moving slowly and cautiously. The agency is under pressure from Congress to be flexible and not stifle innovation, but it also can’t compromise safety.

One step in that direction will come next week, when the agency is expected to release preliminary results of tests done on drone collisions and crashes, Snow said.

“They need to know what the potential damages are,” he said.

Contributing: Bart Jansen in Washington D.C.