CF EMEA 2021: Innovation Spotlight showcases autonomous and unmanned aircraft technology

Autonomous and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) may soon emerge as the dominant method for short-haul, low-payload air cargo routes, according to three startups presenting at the Cargo Facts EMEA Innovation Spotlight on Wednesday. Representatives from each of the startups alluded to how the current limitations of air cargo, such as insufficient air network capacity and increased demand in e-commerce, can be resolved through the broad adoption of autonomous aircraft. [caption id="attachment_416017" align="alignright" width="500"] Marc Ausman, CEO of Airflow at Cargo Facts EMEA on June 2.[/caption] Airflow Drone developer Airflow designs what it expects to be the first electric, middle-mile short takeoff, and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. The company aims to accommodate the surge in e-commerce and anticipates that speed will be the key competitive advantage among autonomous cargo aircraft, CEO Marc Ausman said. “The challenge today, however, is that same-day delivery is not currently profitable, nor is it done in a sustainable manner. And so where do we see the opportunity? Well, we see the opportunity in the middle-mile segment of the supply chain,” said Ausman. The advantage of using an eSTOL in this capacity, he explained, is that the aircraft requires only 150 feet for takeoff and landing, can carry more than 500 pounds of cargo, and its operating costs are 70% lower than similar vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The vehicle’s autonomous capabilities will also help expand existing air cargo routes. “These routes can be expanded in two ways: One, it can fly into cities that today aren’t economically viable for larger aircraft that operate on these routes today; and second, these can fly routes where the aircraft don’t fly full. And if they don’t fly full, it’s very expensive to fly those aircraft, and so less-than-full aircraft can fly and use our aircraft to fly those routes.” Ausman expects considerable market demand for autonomous aircraft in the near future due to the rise in e-commerce. “Just a short two years ago, FedEx was saying there are 50 million packages that are delivered. And by 2022, they estimate this will double to 100 million packages per day just in the United States alone,” Ausman said. [caption id="attachment_416018" align="alignleft" width="500"] Svilen Rangelov, CEO of Dronamics at Cargo Facts EMEA on June 2.[/caption] Dronamics Dronamics develops large, middle-mile cargo drones, and has recently refined its business model for a greater focus on equipment-neutral drone operations. Following the pivot, the company is working on establishing a network of droneports at airports around the globe. The company’s mission is to make “same-day shipping available for everyone, everywhere,” CEO Svilen Rangelov said, adding that the company aims to develop “something that could be as fast as air freight, but as cheap as road freight.” The company’s aircraft, the “Black Swan,” is a UAV that can transport a 350-kilogram payload over a distance of 2,500 km. The aircraft, and potentially drones manufactured by third parties, will be used in conjunction with the company’s droneports for landing and takeoff. To date, Dronamics has signed with more than sixty airports worldwide, primarily in Europe. “These airports right now put us within one-hour distance of more than 100 million people. And this is quite important because we’re focused on the middle mile,” said Rangelov. “Over the next twelve months, we plan to launch the first cargo drone airline with customer cargo and customer flights, and to also open the first factory for our drones,” he added. [caption id="attachment_416019" align="alignright" width="500"] Matt George, CEO of Merlin Labs at Cargo Facts EMEA on June 2.[/caption] Merlin Labs Merlin Labs, a Boston- and Los Angeles-based developer of autonomous flight technology for fixed-wing aircraft, is currently working on hardware and software to enable autonomous flight in Part 23 aircraft, though its autonomy platform is aircraft-agnostic. Part 23 aircraft are those that weigh no more than 19,000 pounds, and carry 19 or fewer passengers, according to the FAA. The startup came out of stealth mode May 26, when it announced a $25 million funding round and a partnership with airline Dynamic Aviation to equip its fleet of fifty-five aircraft with Merlin’s autonomous technology. “We take a bare-metal aircraft, retrofit the aircraft with servers, actuators, computers, airspace sensors, and enable that aircraft to then start to fly digitally,” said Merlin founder and CEO Matt George. “Once the aircraft is loaded with the drop-in autonomy kit, we train the aircraft to be able to fly by having a human pilot train it.” The company aims to expand its current air network capacity to accommodate rising demand, specifying the need to “increase capacity, lower costs, dramatically improve safety and enable new missions,” George explained. While other UAV developers are approaching these challenges by “building complex new types of aircraft and hardware,” he said, Merlin Labs is instead utilizing software in conjunction with existing aircraft to enable automation. “What we’re building at Merlin has a bunch of components, an aircraft interface, a cognition core that helps make decisions,” said George. “We're building in a teleop link [remote control], some basic control, and then training and simulation.” Merlin’s first aircraft under the partnership is currently undergoing flight trials in the Mojave Desert. Watch the full session, which includes presentations from two other startups , below:

CF EMEA 2021: Innovation Spotlight showcases autonomous and unmanned aircraft technology

Presenters from Airflow, Dronamics and Merlin Labs offer a glimpse at how autonomous technology could help air cargo overcome some of its current limitations.

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