News

Sightec Completes First Drone Delivery Without GPS

Published

5 years ago

February 19, 2021

sightec completes first drone delivery without gps

Matrix

Some of the world’s largest retailers and e-commerce companies are actively exploring the potential of drones to deliver goods across short to medium distances. Now, Israeli startup Sightec has successfully completed its first drone delivery without GPS.

Instead of location signals provided by satellites, the drone relies on a software solution combining computer vision with artificial intelligence technologies, called NaviSight, to autonomously get to its destination.

NaviSight is compatible with all camera-equipped off-the-shelf drones. With the help of advanced video processing, the software essentially transforms the camera into a smart sensor, allowing the drone to understand its surroundings and identify its location in real-time.

“We give drones the ability to get from point A to point B safely without the need for GPS signals,” said Roy Shmuel, the CEO of Sightec. “There is no available solution today for players globally,” he added.

The test was part of a pilot program operated by Israel’s Ministry of Transport (MOT), Ayalon Highways, the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI), and the Israel Innovation Authority. The goal of the program is to test and demonstrate the viability of autonomous drones in managed airspace.

During the test, Sightec successfully navigated the drone on five pre-determined routes near the southern city of Yeruham. “The drone completed each route safely, from take-off to full landing, over desert and construction sites,” said Shmuel.

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Not depending on GPS for navigation is important because GPS satellites can malfunction, and the signals transmitted by them can be disrupted by malicious hackers. Without an alternative navigation method, it would be safe to use drones for deliveries and other purposes in populated areas because they could lose signal and endanger people, buildings, and vehicles.

Shmuel also said that the test is an important step toward the legalization of drone delivery operations in Israel and other regions. However, more test flights still need to be conducted in other parts of the country before the technology is ready for prime time.

News

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

17 hours ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

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Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.