This article was published on March 26, 2016

Flirtey’s historic drone delivery gives you an idea of how ridiculous the future will look


Flirtey’s historic drone delivery gives you an idea of how ridiculous the future will look Image by: Flirtey

Dangling precariously from a Flirtey drone is a package that represents the future.

The Australian startup is celebrating what it believes is the first fully-autonomous and legal US drone delivery in an urban area made to an address in Reno, Nevada, earlier this month.

Flirtey
Credit: Flirtey

The flight was signed off by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) – and although a pilot and bystander were on hand, the GPS map worked just fine to get the drone to the correct address.

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Interestingly, the package contained bottled water, food and a first aid kit, demonstrating how drone delivery might actually come to be used in disaster situations, rather than just getting new sneakers to you super quickly.

But, while this certainly marks a milestone for the future of the logistics industry, including Amazon as it plans to launch something similar, it all looks a little precarious, given the FAA has just issued new stats showing “near misses” are on the rise.

That rope dangling underneath the drone is almost screaming to get caught on a power line.

Fortunately, the FAA is already working with NASA on a low-altitude air traffic control system.

So the company’s vision: “Stuff by air. Anytime. Anywhere,” is one step closer to becoming a reality.

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