For the next year, delivery drones operated by the British company Skyports have been making daily weekday trips across New York City’s East River, between the tip of Manhattan and a pier in Brooklyn. Since the beginning of May – slightly behind schedule – drones have been transporting light cargo for New York City’s health care system. Right now, those weights are basically a few pounds of paper; Once the health care system is confident the setup is working, it should include non-hazardous, non-biological packages such as light pharmaceuticals.
The drones are part of an experiment being run by two New York-New Jersey agencies to explore how a relatively new and sometimes controversial sky-bound delivery technology might fit into a busy urban environment and the airspace above it. The pilot program will also attempt to answer the question that hangs over the entire drone delivery industry: Where does it all make sense?
“Will there be enough frequent flights (1 to 2 per hour) that customers can get the right value for the health care system?” Stefan Pezdek, regional freight planning manager for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is running the pilot, wrote in an email to WIRED. (The Port Authority declined to name the health care system for contractual reasons.) “Will the deliveries reach their destinations fast and within the financial constraints of the existing carriers they are using? Will the community appreciate the work and not feel like it is a disruption? All of this will inform our understanding of how the first corridor takes shape.”
Pezdek says the Port Authority, which is also working with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCDEC) on this drone project, will also measure how deliveries impact patient care.
Globally, drone delivery is still in the experimental stage. What projects do exist are mostly focused on moving goods to rural or suburban areas, where gaps in road networks and services, as well as empty skies, might make the technology a better fit. Skyports is delivering mail to remote areas of Scotland and freight to offshore wind turbines in Germany from 2023. US company Zipline says it delivers to about 5,000 healthcare facilities across four continents; Its oldest program distributes vaccines and blood products in Rwanda. In the US, companies including Alphabet’s Wing and Amazon’s Prime Air are working to expand delivery services across the South, with a focus on suburban areas around Houston, Austin and Dallas, Texas.
For drones, dense cities present different challenges. First, there is the question of security. Hosting three international airports, New York City’s airspace is packed. In Manhattan alone, there are three publicly owned heliports. In May 2023, there were nearly 9,000 helicopter flights over land or water in the city, according to data compiled by the New York City Council. The start date of this drone pilot program was pushed back in part because another experimental aviation technology, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, was demoing first-of-its-kind flights from the same heliport.
Because of that urban hustle and bustle, extra precautions have to be taken. The pilot project was, as standard, approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which requires a certified drone pilot to monitor each flight. Each flight will be on a fixed route away from residential buildings. Port Authority spokeswoman Amanda Kwan says the project must obtain weekly NYPD permits to operate, and delays in obtaining the first permit caused the city to push back its opening date. The agency also spoke to three local community boards before giving the drone permission to fly.
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