Drone flight services company DroneUp has announced its acquisition of Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) company AirMap.
AirMap UTM services support as many as 100,000 global daily flights and the company’s flight data is expected to help DroneUp build market and regulatory leadership, and further advance safe last-mile drone services. The acquisition comes on the heels of DroneUp’s recent partnership with Walmart to offer drone delivery to consumers from a growing network of drone airports, called DroneUp Hubs.
The press release states:
As drone flight volume increases, safely managing flights is beyond human scale and requires an automated system to plan, request clearance, and factor in potential hazards and airspace restrictions. The AirMap platform advances safety for DroneUp’s operations, while also providing advantages for other drone operators to publish their flight plans promoting uniform safety.
“We’ve integrated with the best aerospace teams to bring drone delivery and flight services to market faster and more economically with our patented flight management software, and now the industry’s number one UTM solution,” said DroneUp CEO Tom Walker. “We believe DroneUp has a moral obligation to continue investment in and expansion of the AirMap platform. We will ensure this resource remains openly available to the drone industry, municipalities, and the FAA.”
“Not only is AirMap a UTM company, they are also a global leader in digital automated air traffic management (ATM) with a best-in-class market share, geographic footprint, and seamless platform technology that supports stakeholders across several ecosystems,” said John Vernon, DroneUp’s CTO and representative to the FAA’s Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). “Transformative advances in technology are driving positive change for society, fueling decarbonization, de-congestion, and the democratization of transportation. UTM is a key enabler to high-density drone and urban air mobility (UAM) operations while unlocking autonomy and flight safety at scale. We look forward to continuing positive innovation.”
“We are excited to be joining the DroneUp team,” said Ben Marcus, co-founder of Airmap. “Since its inception, AirMap has worked to create a future where drones deliver value to millions of people in their everyday lives. DroneUp is also committed to this mission, and through its resilient, extensible network and partnership with Walmart, I am confident that we are going to create this reality.”
DroneUp operates commercially throughout the U.S. and is an authorized government drone services provider for 13 states serving public sector organizations. It has more than 190 active waivers and authorizations with the FAA. AirMap is one of three UTM providers currently deployed internationally and provides UTM in Switzerland with a geographic footprint and customer base stretching from North America to Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
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