A2Z Drone Delivery tapped for Indonesian drone trials

A2Z Drone Delivery announced that Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailing and food delivery app, and SKYY Network, a commercial drone services provider focused on beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations, have selected A2Z Drone Delivery as their drone technology partner for a now-operational drone delivery pilot in Bali, Indonesia. The proof-of-concept trial brings together SKYY Network and Grab to conduct food delivery missions between Café del Mar Bali and the Nuanu Creative City to explore how drone-assisted delivery can be integrated safely and responsibly in support of existing ground-based delivery operations. A2Z Drone Delivery is supplying the drone technology for the pilot, with its A2Z Longtail Dual selected for its combination of long-range commercial capability and redundant safety features designed for operations in complex BVLOS environments. The pilot program also deploys the company’s A2Z AirDocks, to automatically charge the aircraft between missions, eliminating the need for trained technicians to swap batteries, or load and unload packages. The food delivery trial program connects the popular tourist destination, Nuanu Creative City, a 44-hectare creative city fostering innovation, culture, wellness, and community in Bali, with the hospitality services at Café del Mar Bali through an autonomous drone delivery route. The trial explores how drone-assisted delivery can improve accessibility and efficiency while complementing human delivery partners and prioritising safety, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. While food deliveries are serving as the proving ground for the introduction of drone services to the region, the selection of A2Z Drone Delivery’s autonomous Longtail Dual and multi-mission A2Z AirDocks provide the partners with the platform from which they can scale additional drone services across a regional drone dock infrastructure that serves multiple use cases simultaneously. Each of the service providers conducting the trial brings extensive experience and expertise to the project. SKYY Network, a seasoned drone services provider with a track record for operating complex BVLOS operations that spans multiple countries, is operating the drone delivery missions ferrying food orders to Nuanu. The pilot project enables customers to place food orders through Southeast Asia’s ubiquitous Grab superapp. The delivery route operates in controlled airspace associated with Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport with A2Z’s proprietary CloudOS, the company’s in-house developed ground control station, serving as the software layer for managing delivery missions. “This drone delivery project is ideally suited to our commercial drone ecosystem in which our aircraft and docking solutions minimise the human interactions with the drones and payloads to reduce the unit economics of each individual logistics flight, a key element to enabling the project to scale to full autonomous fleet operations across the region,” said Aaron Zhang, CEO of A2Z Drone Delivery. “The operational environment for this project is particularly challenging, with high winds being a constant challenge, a complex shared airspace that needs to be safely navigated, and flights operating over populated areas. Demonstrating that drone delivery can fullfill these missions safely and consistently will be a solid proof for the scalability of drone services throughout Indonesia.” The trial project represents the first BVLOS food delivery operation in Indonesia and is being conducted under a certificate issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of Indonesia, which applied the same stringent Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) regulatory risk assessments that are the governing rules for commercial drone deliveries throughout Europe. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Sally Passey at [email protected]