City of Reno recently issued the following announcement.
Iris Automation, on behalf of the City of Reno and the Reno Fire Department (RFD), received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval to fly a small drone autonomously beyond the pilot’s line of sight, without any visual observers or the use of additional ground-based detection equipment.
This waiver is an important step in achieving autonomous flight, first testing over unpopulated areas before it can move to urban areas. The waiver covers a rural, unpopulated area south of Reno and was submitted by Iris Automation for the use of its advanced detect and avoid solution, Casia X. It provides situational awareness exceeding that of a human pilot.
“This is an exciting project, working with the BEYOND program and the latest technologies to open the skies both for our community and the broader public,” Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said. “It’s a unique teaming of public and private interests to achieve breakthrough operations for a wide range of cost-effective, public-facing services. Autonomous flying will benefit every member of our community and drive long term economic benefits including job creation, cost savings and more efficient services. We intend this to be our first of many waivers as part of this collaboration. We’re proud to be leading the way in this incredible space—and with a local BEYOND participant too—and excited to see our partners moving to this next step in the process.”
Each year the RFD conducts approximately 41 Water Entry Team (WET) rescues with 85% of them occurring on the Truckee River. Approximately 10% of these calls occur in the dark with many requiring first responders to enter the water. The average response mission lasts about an hour and includes approximately 12-20 first responders. Water exposure, especially in moving water incidents, is extremely dangerous for victims and first responders.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up