Just a few weeks after announcing that it had received $30 million in funding, Airobotics has now announced that it has become the first company in the United States to receive a Certificate of Waiver (CoW) from the FAA that combines three elements: flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) for automated UAS operations, over human beings, with a visual observer that is not required to keep a visual line of sight on the UAS.

The waiver, which allows Airobotics to operate from its Remote Operations Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, will primarily be used within the mining sector, but it will also be used for other industrial facilities in the U.S. as well.  

“We recently opened our U.S. headquarters in Arizona and this latest certification opens the gateways to offering American mining companies, seaports, major construction projects, and in the future smart cities, an optimal means of increasing efficiency and safety while decreasing operational costs,” explains Ran Krauss, CEO and co-founder of Airobotics.

“As our unique pilotless drone technology and industrial grade platform continues breaking new ground, we are able to provide customers with a more accurate and frequent data-driven solution that is the only one of its class in the industry.”

Airobotics says that its automated technology “represents the next generation of drone operations,” as it overtakes standard piloted services, which are expensive, inaccurate and not always available, the company says.

Airobotics notes that it is the first and only UAS technology in the world certified to fly without a human operator, having received certification from Civil Aviation Authority of Israel in March 2017.

With this in mind, Airobotics says that it is the only UAS company certified to fly BVLOS in the U.S., Australia and Israel.