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Abu Dhabi To Use Drones For Transporting Medical Supplies
Abu Dhabi’s drone delivery system is planned to become operational in 2022.
It doesn’t take much for any road to turn into a long parking lot — a single car crash usually does the trick quite reliably. Being stuck in traffic sucks when traveling to or from work, but even a relatively minor traffic jam can have grave consequences when it involves the transportation of medical supplies.
But do you know where traffic jams are a very rare occurrence? In the sky. That’s why Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health is working with the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority and two drone companies to create a new drone delivery system capable of delivering medical supplies between 40 stations across Abu Dhabi.
One of the two drone companies helping make the project happen is the Abu Dhabi-based drone logistics company SkyGo, and the other company is Matternet, a California-based technology platform for urban aerial delivery.
SkyGo brings to the table its in-depth knowledge of the Abu Dhabi healthcare landscape and expertise in logistics and distribution in the Gulf region, while Matternet has extensive real-world experience with commercial Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) flying.
“We are seeing Matternet’s vision of building city-wide drone transportation infrastructure come to fruition in Abu Dhabi,” said Andreas Raptopoulos, Matternet’s CEO. “This will be a model for the rest of the world on how to successfully scale drone delivery for the benefit of healthcare and society overall”.
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Abu Dhabi’s drone delivery system is planned to become operational in 2022. When it does, it will make Abu Dhabi the first city in the MENA region to use drones in healthcare logistics.
The United Arab Emirates has experimented with several different applications of drones in the past, using them to reduce response time to criminal and traffic reports or to spur rainfall in the desert.
News
Joby To Establish All-Electric Air Taxi Ecosystem Across The UAE
The comprehensive agreement with Abu Dhabi’s government includes a training program, infrastructure development, and a manufacturing presence.
All-electric aircraft company Joby Aviation has secured three separate agreements with departments of Abu Dhabi’s government that lay the groundwork to develop and scale air taxi services in the Emirate and beyond.
The deal was signed at the recent DRIFTx thought-leadership and exhibition platform and gave Joby exclusive rights to not only operate air taxi services in Dubai but also unlock inter-emirate services between Abu Dhabi.
Joe Ben Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, said: “Today’s agreement demonstrates the incredible momentum behind the adoption of clean flight across the UAE. We’re looking forward to delivering a fantastic experience for our future customers in Abu Dhabi and we’re excited to be unlocking the potential for zero-emissions flight between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We’re grateful for the support and collaboration of our governmental partners and the entire ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and we remain deeply impressed by their commitment to building out a world-class aviation ecosystem in the Emirate”.
Joby’s all-electric aircraft went on display for the first time in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina at the DRIFTx event. The air taxi is designed to carry a pilot and four passengers and can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour (321 km/h). The zero-emission craft is said to have an extremely low acoustic footprint and can travel a maximum of 100 miles (161 km) on a single charge.
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Once operational, Joby’s air taxi fleet would enable fast, clean travel across the UAE, with journeys between Abu Dhabi to Dubai taking just 30 minutes compared with two hours by car during peak times.
Joby continues to work closely with the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to help the Emirates become a world leader in the introduction of air taxis. Additional testing and analysis will be required before inter-emirate travel becomes a reality, but the cutting-edge technology already appears to have great potential.
Joby To Establish All-Electric Air Taxi Ecosystem Across The UAE
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