United Parcel Service is working to become one of the first commercial entities authorised by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate autonomous drones without the existing restrictions on testing them, it has said in a statement on its website.
Testing includes a trial begun earlier this year using multirotor drones to deliver blood and medical samples to hospitals in North Carolina. The FAA restricts such aircraft over populated areas, at night, and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
UPS said it had applied to the FAA for Part 135 certification to operate commercial drone flights under a subsidiary business called UPS Flight Forward. The new subsidiary is a recently incorporated business which, UPS said, could receive Part 135 certification later this year. Certification would allow drone flights beyond the operator’s visual line of sight, day or night.
UPS currently operates drone healthcare deliveries in a specific use-case under FAA Part 107 rules. In March, the delivery company initiated the first FAA-sanctioned use of a drone for routine revenue flights involving the transport of a product, under which it delivers medical samples via drones supplementing a ground-based courier service.
In April, the FAA awarded the first Part 135 certification for drone delivery to Google affiliate Alphabet Wing to deliver small packages in rural Virginia. Meanwhile, Uber has applied for Part 135 certification for its Uber Eats food delivery in San Diego.
