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Trump Administration Approves 10 New Drone Projects Around the Country (theverge.com) 53

Posted by BeauHD from the testing-in-progress dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Just over six months after President Trump announced the creation of a program meant to spur the development of drone trials around the country, the Department of Transportation has announced the first 10 winners. Among those selected, three state transportation agencies, two US cities, and two universities will work with private companies like FedEx and CNN on trials that will see drones used for tasks like package delivery, journalism, healthcare, and more.

Formally known as the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot, the program encourages U.S. cities and states to partner with companies on drone trials that expand how the aircraft are used around the country. This includes, in some cases, allowing drones to fly over crowds, beyond the pilot's line of sight, and at night -- situations that are usually prohibited unless the person flying obtains an official waiver from the FAA. The goal with the program is to accelerate potential commercial applications for drone use. One of the 10 selections is Florida's Lee County Mosquito Control District. The small government agency will use drones to help control mosquito populations by searching for hard-to-find pockets of larvae at a faster rate than inspectors can on foot, while also reducing the risk of being bitten. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will work on flying drones beyond a pilot's line of sight as part of a partnership with CNN. Furthermore, North Carolina's DOT was selected to test the food drone delivery service, Tennessee's Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority was chosen to test deliveries in partnership with FedEx, and the City of Reno, Nevada was picked to work with Flirtey, a company focused on using drones to deliver medical supplies.
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Trump Administration Approves 10 New Drone Projects Around the Country More

Trump Administration Approves 10 New Drone Projects Around the Country

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    • yeah. promises kept. wonder how the Nobel Prize will divert the Korea Peace Plan recognition?

    • Didn't most of Trump's blustering during the campaign trail revolve around how he'd hold back progress in the name of creating jobs for coal miners, buggy whip makers, and what-have-you?

      Drones are going to put a *lot* of people out of work.

  • I've never seen a coal powered drone with liberal seeking missiles piloted by SpaceForce cadets. It's the only drone project I can see Cheeto Mussolini supporting.

    • I've never seen a coal powered drone with liberal seeking missiles piloted by SpaceForce cadets. It's the only drone project I can see Cheeto Mussolini supporting.

      Um, the actual story is that he is supporting the cool stuff.

      Don't worry, the cognitive dissonance only burns for awhile ...

      • Sorry.. I was making a tongue in cheek joke and didn't mean to cause chafing to your delicate parts... please accept my 100% sincere and heartfelt apologies for the hardship you and your family had to endure during this trying time. I'm sure with a few decades of therapy you might have some semblance of the normal life you used to enjoy. Furthermore, I've set up a GoFundMe account to help with the financial burdens you've had to incur and made sure that the funds made it to the wealthiest person in your zip

  • CNN? (Score:1)

    by NaCh0 ( 6124 )

    Is CNN doing package delivery or healthcare now? They sure as heck couldn't have been selected for journalism unless the drones are training to spot fake news.

  • Let's ignore the one that actually works (Score:5, Informative)

    by cusco ( 717999 ) <brian@bixby.gmail@com> on Wednesday May 09, 2018 @11:29PM (#56585978)

    Of course they'll just ignore the first commercial drone delivery service on the planet, Zipline. They've been delivering blood and emergency medical supplies to about 1/3 of rural Rwanda since 2016, and Tanzania since 2017. They're going to expand into the US, if they can get through the permitting process.
    http://www.flyzipline.com/ [flyzipline.com]

  • 1984-level phrasing. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Actually, I do RTFA ( 1058596 ) on Wednesday May 09, 2018 @11:31PM (#56585986)

    Normally, it's the private companies that win contracts, and the governments giving them out. Even when it's a federal grant to a city, it's not usually phrased as "winning". In public-private partnerships like this, it would almost always be "FedEx wins [X], and will be doing so in conjunction/cooperation with Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority"

    Feels like when Trump instructed his Trump U teachers to say "congratulations" whenever some one signed up for a class, instead of "thanks for your business" or similar.

    • Except of course, in this case, 149 State, local and tribal governments literally were the ones who submitted proposals and 10 of their proposals were selected by the FAA.

      So it was the below organizations which applied and "won", despite your getting the process completely backwards:
      Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant, OK
      City of San Diego, CA
      Virginia Tech - Center for Innovative Technology, Herndon, VA

    • Feels like when Trump instructed his Trump U teachers to say "congratulations" whenever some one signed up for a class, instead of "thanks for your business" or similar.

      Lots of businesses do that, "congratulations on choosing the best car and service!" or whatever.

      Certainly Apple does it implicitly. "You are privileged to be holding this 'beautiful' slippery phone which you must immediately put into an ugly case forever."

  • I can't think of anything I want less than endless flocks of drones constantly buzzing overhead. You thought the national parks were bad? Just you wait!

    • I can't think of anything I want less than endless flocks of drones constantly buzzing overhead. You thought the national parks were bad? Just you wait!

      I now understand why old people are grumpy. All the interesting people die out over time only to be replaced with fucking idiots like Kanye West, and your personal space just gets smaller and smaller and smaller. There's getting less and less to look forward to.

    • I can't think of anything I want less than endless flocks of drones constantly buzzing overhead.

      At the altitude they intend on using for commercial drone flights, they'd be nearly inaudible from the ground.

      I live within a few miles of a regional airport and hear all manner of manned craft buzzing/wooshing overhead. You get used to it, unless you're Trump [cnn.com].

  • o Jam drone signals, make them land
    o Scoop them up, into the Faraday cage they go
    o Transport them to my seekrit lab
    o Drone chop-shop!
    o ???
    o Profit!
  • Hilarous, they're running a pilot program to see if we can do without pilots.

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