USDOT announces drone test selectees
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has selected 10 state, local and tribal governments as participants in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program.
In a statement issued yesterday (9 May), the US Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, said: “Data gathered from these pilot projects will form the basis of a new regulatory framework to safely integrate drones into our national airspace.”
The 10 selectees are:
- Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant, OK
- City of San Diego, CA
- Virginia Tech – Center for Innovative Technology, Herndon, VA
- Kansas Department of Transportation, Topeka, KS
- Lee County Mosquito Control District, Ft. Myers, FL
- Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, Memphis, TN
- North Carolina Department of Transportation, Raleigh, NC
- North Dakota Department of Transportation, Bismarck, ND
- City of Reno, NV
- University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
The USDOT and its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chose the 10 final selectees from among the 149 proposals they received.
Over the next two and a half years, the selectees will collect drone data involving night operations; flights over people and beyond the pilot’s line of sight; package delivery; detect-and-avoid technologies and the reliability and security of data links between pilot and aircraft.
USDOT said that the data will help “craft new enabling rules that allow more complex low-altitude operations, identify ways to balance local and national interests related to UAS integration, improve communications with local, state and tribal jurisdictions, address security and privacy risks, and accelerate the approval of operations that currently require special authorizations”.
The tests being conducted by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) could be of particularly interest to Post&Parcel readers, as it will focus on the use of delivery drones.
In a statement responding to the USDOT announcement, the NCDOT said: “The primary focus of NCDOT’s proposal is working with global drone delivery companies, such as Zipline, Matternet and Flytrex to set up a network of medical distribution centers that can use drones to make medical deliveries. These companies currently operate overseas.
“Blood and other supplies currently travel by courier to hospitals and testing facilities. With drones, medical providers would get the test results and supplies they need much faster.”
