Drones in America

3 Trends Driving the Drone Industry Right Now:

• Increased Hardware Competition Signals Market Shift
• Rising Global Tensions and Move Toward Dual-Use
• Improving Autonomy and Shifting Regulations

DroneUp just announced a partnership with Walmart and Quest Diagnostics to deliver at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits. Walmart has already been experimenting with with the practicality of drone delivery for select grocery and household essential items, but has not advanced past the trial stage. Delivering COVID-19 tests is not only a highly relevant need in our society, but would be a big step forward in analyzing the efficiency of drones in deliveries.

According to Miriam McNabb, CEO at JobForDrones and Contributing Editor at DRONELIFE, drones are stepping in when humans really need to step away for their health and safety. She explained that drone technology has really allowed certain workspaces, such as industrial sites and mining sites, to keep functioning with fewer people on the ground and more distance between them.

Brasfield & Gorrie is a general contracting firm, making Hittie uniquely qualified to touch on the subject of this episode – how the potential lessening of regulations surrounding the use of drones and UAVs over people could impact the construction industry.

Hittie has experienced the benefits of drones in data collection firsthand, which led him toward a career in drones and eventually to Brasfield & Gorrie.

Grant Guillot, host of Drones in America, was joined by Lisa Murray, Linda McLaughlin, and Lee Corkhill of Diversified Communications to preview this year’s Commercial UAV Expo.

With the global pandemic present, many events have been postponed or cancelled. The Commercial UAV Expo has opted to take the event virtual.

“It’s been challenging. It’s been interesting. It’s kind of exciting” said Murray, Group Director.. The overall goals of delivering excellent content to expo visitors, providing a platform for companies to showcase their innovations, and being a premier networking event have remained the same. How the content is delivered is the main difference.

On this episode of Drones in America, host Grant Guillot was joined by Brenden Schulman, Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs at DJI.

DJI, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, is an industry leader, providing flying and stabilization systems and more than make image capture via drone simpler and more effective.

Schulman and Guillot dove into new use cases for drones created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the shifting landscape of the public’s perception of drones, and more, though a majority of the duo’s discussion centered around a key topic – what role do foreign-made drones play in the American drone industry?

It’s a key consideration, particularly in light of growing concerns about foreign powers, notably China, gaining access to sensitive American data.

Every week, Drones in America introduces listeners to guests who are leaders, influencers and experts from various areas to talk about America’s drone industry.

Topics discussed include the history of drones, new technology, policy and the rapidly-growing commercial market.

On this episode, host Grant Guillot sat down with leaders of the largest American drone manufacturer, Skydio. The CEO and Founder, Adam Bry, and the Head of Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy, Brendan Groves, joined the show to discuss the major announcements regarding the X2 line of enterprise drones and what that means for autonomous drones in the commercial and public safety segments.

Bry helped launch Google's drone program in the early 2010s and, in 2012, was concerned the FAA could potentially kill the drone industry. It has been an up-and-down roller coaster ride since then, but Bry is very optimistic about the regulatory landscape in the UAV industry and is excited by the way the policymaker decisions are trending.

"Overall, I am optimistic, but you kind of have to be when you start a company," Bry said of why he founded Skydio in 2014.

Bry likened the operation of drones to the early days of computing. When the computer industry first began, only specially trained experts and hackers were able to use the machines, and everything was done through the command prompt. But the first graphical user interface with "the first Mac and Windows totally changed the paradigm, [making it] a software-based experience accessible to way more people".

On this episode, Guillot sat down with one of the most influential policymakers in the aviation world, Rep. Garret Graves (R) of Louisiana's 6th District. Congressman Graves serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Graves has been quoted supporting the use of drones in emergency response and disaster surveys and as believing in significant investments from the public and private sector to ensure job creation and economic growth in this new aviation space.

America is the birth place of aviation and has led technological growth throughout its history, but is currently falling behind the pace of innovation in a new industry. And, if it doesn't catch up now, it might always be behind.

Graves mentioned his concerns on how few drone manufacturers there are in America and how a single company having a majority of the marketshare is bad for competition.

With the U.S. having an increased sensitivity with China that will most likely not go away for quite some time, there is a space for American manufacturers to recapture the market, which could also help ease concerns related to data and national security.

If we are able to have "U.S. manufacturers that rival or even best the technology of Chinese manufacturers, when people have a choice, they will go with a U.S. manufacturer,” Graves said.

Welcome to this week’s episode of “Drones in America,” a MarketScale podcast hosted by Grant Guillot.

On “Drones in America,” Guillot and industry leaders, influencers and experts explore the rapidly growing commercial drone industry in the U.S., guiding you through the complex web of technology, policy and more.

The future of drone delivery is bright but most of the stories revolve around the possibilities of the application and not establishing the timeline of when will we see drone delivery become a practical last mile solution. Grant sat down with the founders of Deuce Drone who have the mission of flying - performing paid-for commercial drone deliveries in the year 2020.

In the past several years, the UAV market has exploded with technological growth, and aviation regulators have not been able to keep up with the amount of innovation occurring. A major cause for the road block by regulators goes back to a a fundamental question — should the local or federal level make key decisions?

Grant sat down with Brent Skorup of George Mason University to discuss how Brent ranked all 50 states in terms of how open they are to allowing commercial drone operations.

Companies and pilots have a lot of questions regarding how the government will implement Remote ID. Grant spoke with the Executive Director of the Federal Aviation Administration, Jay Merkle, to get his insight and clarity regarding what drone users can expect in regards to Operations Over People and the utilization of drones in public safety.

In this week’s episode, Grant Guillot is joined by Rhett Ross and Philip Burton with Deuce Drone, a UAS delivery service provider based out of Mobile and initially operating in cities within Alabama. Guillot’s firm, Adams and Reese, has been engaged by Deuce Drone to assist with regulatory and government relations matters.

“The ability to engage with the public and with federal, but, even more so, state and local leaders at the introductory stage of the development of a drone company is so critical to helping the operation become scalable,” Guillot states, noting that assisting Deuce Drone with its UAS operations falls within Adams and Reese’s “comfort zone in working with state and local officials to help embrace technology and advocate on behalf of our clients.”

Guillot is also joined on the episode by his law partner, Britton Bonner, who leads Adams and Reese’s Economic Development Practice Team and represents commercial enterprises in various sectors, including manufacturing, shipbuilding, logistics and distribution, aviation and aerospace.

“[The drone industry] combines new technology with federal regulation that is going to necessitate local support and state support,” Bonner says. “Most of the projections…have estimated that the drone industry as a whole would have an economic impact that would support over 100,000 jobs potentially by 2025. Where those jobs go is going to be determined by the regulatory environment and the local acceptance of the industry. I think you’ll see states that are opening up sooner to the drone industry and embracing it. They will siphon jobs and opportunities away from state and localities that aren’t in support.”

Deuce Drone is designing a system whereby consumers can place orders from a retailer via an app, which will then interface with the retailer to transmit the order and confirm the time the order should be prepared and packaged for delivery. Once the package is ready, the retailer will then load the package onto an automated conveyor system that will transport the package to the roof of the building to be retrieved by a drone. The drone will then fly to the consumer’s location in accordance with all applicable regulations and deposit the package at the consumer’s location before returning to the retailer to retrieve the next order.

“We want to facilitate B to B and B to C delivery of packages from existing retailers and restaurants in local communities,” says Ross. “We will use off-the-shelf drone systems that our artificial intelligence and software design teams will design the background flight systems for to guide the drones from point A to point B safely, quietly, and with high quality for the packages.”

“The narrative [brick and mortar retail industry is] constantly battling is how are we going to stay relevant in a world where Amazon has massive market share,” Burton says. “So this technology, retrofitting it with…existing retailers seems like a logical play, and we’re really excited about it.” Noting the time savings drone deliveries are uniquely capable of achieving, Burton estimates that “in theory a package could go round trip within 12-minutes.”

The parties also discuss the importance of safeguarding against privacy and nuisance concerns and the significance of gaining the public’s trust of drone operations. Public perception and the regulatory environment “cannot exist without [each other] in the U.S.,” Guillot explains. “The FAA is going to be much more likely to facilitate a favorable regulatory environment if it has public support, and the public is going to be a lot more likely to accept drones if it knows the FAA is focusing on safety and requiring [drone service providers] to make that safety case.”

“You’ve got to have your local buy-in from your elected officials because they are going to be the biggest advocates for this and because it is a huge economic impact for the region,” Bonner says. “This is about quality of life, and this is about raising the quality of life of the citizens in the area in which the services are going to be provided so I think the local buy-in and the local support is a key ingredient.”

Deuce Drone is partnering with a large regional grocery chain as well as with a national fast casual restaurant chain that includes in-restaurant dining and delivery options. “The traction is there.  The people see it,” Ross says, noting the Deuce Drone is focused on designing their products and services to be safe and quiet, provide privacy, and facilitate community involvement.  “If we do that, we are going to be rolling this out across the nation I think very successfully over the next few years.”