A delivery service focusing on residential and commercial drone delivery called Dive Delivery has received permission from the FAA to perform drone deliveries under existing Part 107 rules and regulations.

Residents of San Mateo and Contra Costa counties in California can now sign up to participate in the trials. Once they sign up, Dive Delivery, when ready, will send out a Part 107 certified remote pilot to first conduct a test flight without any cargo. After a successful test, the pilot will affix a lightweight package to the drone and conduct the actual delivery drop flight.

To make sure that customers don’t walk under the drone at any time, they will be notified before and immediately after the operation.

The Avision app—a product of Avision, which provides airspace and flight management technology for the global drone industry—will be used to manage mission planning, airspace authorization (via automated LAANC requests) and flight execution. Dive Delivery plans to utilize Avision's UTM platform for extra safety and operational visibility.

An off-the-shelf drone is equipped with an air drop system, while the release control is programmed into the Avision flight platform. Via an automated waypoint mission, the drone takes off from a predefined location and flies to the backyard of the residential customer. Once it arrives, it lowers into the marked location, automatically releases the package and returns to the launch location via the same flight path.

“Dive Delivery is doing groundbreaking work executing on last mile drone deliveries in the Bay Area,” says James Broniec, VP of Business Development for Avision.

“Working alongside a company like Dive to meet the needs of local communities in a time of crisis is really rewarding for us.”