Autonomous drone solution provider Airobotics is going where no commercial drone has gone before, beyond line of sight. The company announced it has been granted approval by the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) to fly its fully automated drones without a pilot.
“Here in Israel, we are always pushing the boundaries of innovation,” said Ran Krauss, CEO and co-founder of Airobotics. “We are proud to be at the forefront of the commercial UAV area, together with CAAI, and be able to lead the way for drone companies and regulators throughout the world.”
According to Airobotics, this is a milestone signifying its technology is able to replace authorized pilots with an authorized computer. Airobotics hopes its autonomous drone technology will reduce the costs of labor and training, and help businesses gain insight faster and easier.
Airobotics has been field testing and verifying its technology with CAAI for the past 24 months in order to prove it can fly safely and reliably without a pilot.
The platform includes Optimus, the drone that can fly 30 minutes at a time and carry about two pounds of payload; Airbase, the automated base station for the drone to autonomously launch and land from; and software that allows users to control and manage their missions.
“Airobotics has completed a long cycle, which started in 2013. This newly granted certification is our next generation milestone, that completely takes the human drone pilot out of the equation in BVLOS operations. We predict this certification milestone will revolutionize the global market landscape, and pave the way for future applications of automated drones.”