Drone Delivery Canada inks deal with UBC
By EP&T
Electronics EngineeringBC-based firm targets remote communities with drone transportation initiative
Drone Delivery Canada Corp. has signed a commercial agreement with the University of British Columbia (UBC) to deploy its patented drone delivery solution at the Stellat’en First Nation for UBC’s ‘Remote Communities Drone Transportation Initiative’ program.
The project will enable defined-route deliveries utilizing DDC’s Sparrow drone and its DroneSpot takeoff and landing zones as well as additional drone flight infrastructure as required. The solution will be used to transport a variety of cargo for the benefit of the Stellat’en First Nation and the Village of Fraser Lake, located in Central Northern British Columbia, Canada.
DDC is expected to commence deployment of site infrastructure summer of 2021 and expects to begin providing drone delivery services under the agreement in the second half of 2021. The term of the agreement is 12 months. This deployment will be DDC’s fourth First Nations project and its first in British Columbia.
Additionally, the Company is pleased to announce that it is working on the next generation Sparrow delivery drone, in response to market demand. The current Sparrow has been successfully implemented at numerous commercial projects and will continue to be commercially available. The next generation Sparrow is already well into development and is expected to have the same range of 30km and payload capability of 4.5kg, along with next generation motor technology, next generation battery technology, touchless cargo drop functionality, an optional public announcement system and an optional aircraft parachute. The new functionality is expected to further address customer demands and evolving regulatory requirements.
The Company expects to reallocate Robin XL engineering resources to focus on completing the next generation Sparrow and Condor development, testing and commercialization as priorities, based on expected market demand in Canada and internationally. The Company will look to complete the Robin XL commercialization as market demands may indicate.
