urban

Drone delivery company Flirtey has announced it has successfully completed the first fully autonomous, FAA-approved urban drone delivery in the United States. In an uninhabited residential setting in Hawthorne, Nevada, the company says it successfully delivered a package that included bottled water, emergency food and a first aid kit by drone.

Research and development (R&D) is a major focus for the six FAA-designated Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Sites, and the Flirtey operation adds significant knowledge to this effort – specifically R&D for search and rescue and crisis response in disaster-prone areas.

The six-rotor drone flew itself along a pre-determined delivery route and lowered the package at a precise drop-off location. A Flirtey pilot and several visual observers were on standby during the delivery as a backup to the autonomous system, but were never needed.

Cars and trucks are choking Australian cities costing billions of dollars in traffic congestion, harming human health and adding to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report from the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA).

The report Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility warns that Australia is heading down the wrong path and a new approach to urban transport is needed that prioritises people rather than one particular mode of transport.

The report finds that the cost of urban congestion in our capital cities will increase four-fold in two decades, reaching $53.3 billion by 2031, unless there is a change of direction.