UPS coming up with drones

The delivery giant is done experimenting and is petitioning the FAA for the right to launch revenue-generating drone flights without today’s restrictions.

If UPS gets its way, it’ll be known for vehicles other than its famous brown vans. The delivery giant is working to become the first commercial entity authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to use autonomous delivery drones without any of the current restrictions that have governed the aerial testing it has done to date.

That testing includes a trial UPS started earlier this year, using multirotor drones to deliver blood and other medical samples to hospital testing facilities in North Carolina. This aircraft could only operate under specific FAA exemptions if the company launched them over populated areas, at night, and beyond the line of sight of a flight supervisor.

This week, UPS announced it has applied for the FAA certification that will allow it to operate revenue-generating drone flights without those restrictions, and potentially become the first commercial entity to do so. If approved, its first operations will be for medical, commercial, and industrial customers. Regular consumers have to wait a while longer for drone-delivered tennis rackets and toilet paper.

The approval could come as soon as this year, according to UPS, and if the regulator grants this license, known as a Part 135 certification for commercial flight operations, it will permit the company to use drones in the same way as commercial airlines use their flyers. As an official Air Carrier and Operator, UPS would also be subject to the same strict safety and operational standards as those airlines.

This oversight extends to training of the personnel who oversee the flights via data links and camera footage, as well as the maintenance and performance requirements of the drones themselves. UPS would have to write manuals for each model and use case, and codify emergency procedures—what the aircraft will do in the event of mechanical failure, how operators will respond to lost-aircraft situations, and so on—to ensure safety. License in hand, the logistics company would set up a new subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward Inc., to push the drone tech into daily use.