Earlier this month, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) Corp. entered into a commercial agreement with the David McAntony Gibson Foundation to deploy service drones to Beausoleil First Nation (BFN) community in Ontario, a remote area of the country with a small population. Now, the company has entered into a commercial agreement with DSV Air & Sea Inc. Canada to deploy DDC’s drone delivery platform to deliver healthcare related cargo from DSV’s warehouse to customers locally.
The company’s Sparrow cargo drone will operate for three months in the Milton, Ontario, area where it will hover at the destination at a lowered altitude, drop untethered cargo in a designated area shared by multiple DSV transactional customers, then return to a DSV DroneSpot.
The route will be about 2.17 miles and will be monitored by DDC from its control center in Vaughan, Ontario. Flights will begin in the third quarter of this year with more potential routes being added in 2020.
Previously, DDC flew hundreds of flights per month at DSV on the first route. The second paid route at DSV will use the Sparrow drone to deliver critical cargo such as healthcare items to help with social distancing and minimize human contact with goods.
While drones will be key to helping fight future pandemics, drones are also being used today in order to fight COVID-19, in places like China to disinfect the streets and make large crowds disperse to conform to social distancing guidelines.
Because COVID-19 has people worldwide limiting contact with others, drones have demonstrated value via delivery. Consequently, package giant UPS is working with drone startups DroneUp and Workhorse Group to test how unmanned systems can assist medical professionals testing for COVID-19. Flytrex is also testing how its drones could be used to provide food, medicine and other essential goods in North Dakota.
