has reported positive results from its initial commercial testing on its next generation drone logistics platform 4.0 which delivered positive results from test flights which occurred in Waterloo, ON with its Canadian university research partners.
Both flight times and payload carry exceeded initial expectations primarily as a result of development work which occurred at the Vaughan DDC lab over the past nine months.
“We are very pleased with first results that exceeded expectations in terms of flight time and its payload carry. Today you cannot simply buy a drone for delivery purposes like you can for photography, so we are collaborating with Canada’s best in breed to develop our own. There are many benefits to this; for instance, we will own all of the intellectual property and then simply outsource the manufacturing. Our business is to build Canada’s first ‘railway in the sky’ on our ‘depot to depot model’ which is different to other concepts south of the border”, commented Tony Di Benedetto, CEO of Drone Delivery Canada. “The fundamental need for drone delivery in remote parts of Canada where access is difficult is overwhelming. When considering Canada’s basic geography, our approach simply works and makes a lot of sense. We are pleased with our technical progress to date and very pleased with the commercial interest we are receiving which occurs almost daily.”
DDC has further expanded its staffing, adding experienced UAV pilots and mission control staff to its technical testing teams. DDC will utilize data from its testing efforts to provide key inputs to its various partners including the Canadian government and corporate partners as it moves closer towards commercialization.
At present, DDC is in active discussions with many large Canadian multinationals as well as government organizations which DDC is seeking to form partnerships with as it looks to commercialize its bourgeoning technology.
DDC will add additional sites later this year for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing. BVLOS testing sites will be located across Canada, working with the Canadian federal government as DDC moves forward to obtain its operator status.
Source: Press Release