Airobotics achieves new first with automated drones in the US

Airobotics has received a Certificate of Waiver (CoW) from the US Federal Aviation Administration that will allow it to operate from the company’s remote operations centre in Scottsdale, Arizona.

It has become the first company in the US to receive a CoW that combines three elements – flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for automated drone operations, over human beings, with a visual observer that is not required to keep a visual line of sight on the drone.

The company said this CoW for BVLOS will primarily be used within the mining sector as well as other industrial facilities in the US.

Ran Krauss, CEO and Co-Founder of Airobotics, said: “We recently opened our US headquarters in Arizona and this latest certification opens the gateways to offering American mining companies, seaports, major construction projects and, in the future, smart cities, an optimal means of increasing efficiency and safety while decreasing operational costs.”

He added: “As our unique pilotless drone technology and industrial grade platform continues breaking new ground, we are able to provide customers with a more accurate and frequent data-driven solution that is the only one of its class in the industry.”

The company recently announced a $30 million Series D round of funding bringing its total investment to $101 million. This new round of funding is to be used to further scale operations in the US after recently establishing its headquarters in Scottsdale, where Airobotics will run all North America, South America and Central America operations.

Airobotics says its automated solution represents the next generation of drone operations, overtaking standard piloted services which are expensive, inaccurate and not always available. The company is the first and only drone solution worldwide certified to fly without a human operator.

“The latest award positions Airobotics as the only drone company certified to fly BVLOS in the US, Australia and Israel, three countries considered to be in the cutting edge of UAV regulations,” the company said.