Even as self-driving cars become more and more ubiquitous, there’s one problem that Silicon Valley hasn’t solved: the traffic jam. But Airbus Group, a U.S. aeronautics and space company, thinks that it has a solution. The company’s Silicon Valley branch recently announced it’s been working on a secret project titled “Vahana,” an autonomous flying vehicle that can be used for both passenger and cargo transport.
Imagine you’re trying to find your car in a crowded parking lot. Rather than let frustration take hold, you simply say “locate car” and a tiny drone perched on your shoulder flies off and guides you to it. Amazon has been awarded a patent for a voice-activated personal assistant drone that would do just that, and may be used by emergency personnel for slightly more important tasks, like locating missing children or spotting fires.
Continue reading… “Amazon patents personal mini drones that locates lost cars or kids”
NASA recently tested drones to serve as unmanned air traffic controllers, according to Recode.
The tests, which were conducted at the Reno, Nevada, airport, are part of a larger research project spearheaded by NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop an unmanned air traffic control system.
Continue reading… “NASA is testing air traffic controller drones”
AT&T is using drones to conduct cell tower inspections and find birds’ nests that can potentially affect cell coverage, reports Recode.
The telco provider is doing this as part of a new drone initiative it announced in July.
Continue reading… “AT&T using drones to inspect cell towers and find bird nests”
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Instructor Matt Dunlevy probably didn’t have to remind his University of North Dakota students that they’d be sharing the airspace as they stood in a field preparing their drones for flight as the sun set one recent afternoon.
Continue reading… “Students in North Dakota Learn How to Build Drone Businesses”
What will Iowa’s farms look like when the combines and tractors drive themselves?
How will Des Moines’ banking and insurance sectors fare when supercomputers run financial markets?
Where will Iowans live when a self-driving car can take them anywhere with the tap of a smartphone?
These are the kind of questions Thomas Frey ponders.
Continue reading… “Futurist Thomas Frey predicts farming drones, driverless streets”
What is being hailed as the world’s first commercial regular drone delivery service is beginning drop-offs in Rwanda.
The operation uses fixed-wing drones that automatically fly to destinations in the central African nation.
Continue reading… “Zipline begins commercial drone deliveries in Rwanda”
As drone expert, P.W. Singer said about microdrones, At this point, it doesnt really matter if you are against the technology, because its coming. According to Singer, The miniaturization of drones is where it really gets interesting. You can use these things anywhere, put them anyplace, and the target will never even know theyre being watched.
This has been the promise that the Air Force made quite clear in their video early last year about nanodrone tech that you can see below. According to the USAF, Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), combined with the ability to harvest energy, will enable insect-sized drone swarms to be dropped from military aircraft to stay aloft for a prolonged amount of time, offering a host of functions, including assassination.
The package delivery giant is testing drones for sending medical items to rural locations.
The United Parcel Service has high hopes for drones.
In late September, the package delivery giant and a drone startup, CyPhy Works, said they had successfully tested a drone delivery, in which a flying robot delivered an asthma inhaler to a children’s summer camp on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts.
If you summon an Uber in 10 years’ time, you will probably get a car that drives itself. But then again, you may not be travelling in a car at all.
The taxi-hailing app is working on technology that would allow airborne passenger drones to fly its users short distances around cities, it has emerged, raising the prospect of a future in which skylines are dotted with Uber aircraft shuttling commuters back and forth.
Canadian companies are placing big bets on a better way of powering drones.
So far these stealthy units — long used by military forces for intelligence-gathering, surveillance and striking targets — have been powered by internal combustion engines or lithium polymer batteries.
Continue reading… “Fuel cells about to power the drone industry”