Driver-less drones could offer Michigan businesses a faster and more affordable avenue for delivery in the not-so-distant future.
The state recently awarded a $150,000 grant to MightyFly, a California-based drone company, to perform autonomous cargo delivery flight demonstrations in Alpena in 2024. MightyFly has begun talks with potential business partners with its eyes on expanding into Michigan next year.
“What the market is in need of nowadays is same-day delivery that is affordable,” said Manal Habib, the company’s CEO. “Once we perform the demonstrations, we are going to extend to customers in Michigan and work with them to start solving some of their problems in logistics and pretty much enabling them to have this convenient, same-day delivery access they’ve been dreaming about.”
The company’s latest drone model — Centro — is an autonomous, hybrid-electric cargo aircraft that can carry up to 100 pounds of cargo, with an estimated cruise speed of 150 mph and a range of 600 miles. It can reportedly carry up to 212 small packages, and only needs the space of two parking spaces to land.
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