The Reno-headquartered company that says it's ahead of tech giants Amazon and Google in the U.S. delivery drone race is a startup you’ve probably never heard of. Its name is Flirtey, and like its larger corporate competitors in Silicon Valley, it has ambitious plans.
As of March 10, Flirtey claimed to have conducted the first rural and urban drone delivery in the U.S., a feat that Amazon has not accomplished domestically (or at least acknowledged).
Congress and federal regulators are looking at ways to legalize drone deliveries and flights over populated areas.
During its most recent flight in Hawthorne, the company demonstrated that it could weave through obstacles like trees and power lines to deliver a package in a residential area. It followed a delivery flight last year of medical supplies to an area of rural Virginia.
The Nevada flight, which earned praise from Gov. Brian Sandoval last week, was supported by UNR and required coordination between federal and state officials. Flirtey co-founder and CEO Matt Sweeny recently chatted with VEGAS INC about what went into the flight and what’s next for Flirtey. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Federal Aviation Administration is not known for letting people fly easily. How did you get permission to do this flight?
First, we’ve built very strong relationships with the test sites and the FAA. Second, we are a safety-oriented and professional outfit with some of the best drone researchers and operators in the world on our team.
And third is we’ve had experience doing this in other regulatory geographies. We’ve done a series of trials in New Zealand, which has one of the most liberal regulatory geographies in the world. So we can mostly do all of our research and development in the U.S., do commercial operations in New Zealand and then bring that data back, which shows that we’ve got a safe track record, our technology is reliable and that we’ve run successful trials. All of that accelerates our ability to get approvals domestically.
After doing your first domestic flight in Virginia, what was the reasoning behind doing it in Nevada this time?
We are headquartered in Nevada. Strategically for us, we want to have an East Coast presence and a West Coast presence. Hence, our relationship with the (UNR) and Virginia Tech as well as the Nevada (drone) test site and the Virginia test site.
So Hawthorne, Nev., population just over 3,000: What was the reasoning for doing the test flight there?
The environment that we were looking for for these test flights was a suburban environment. So in particular what we were looking for in an ideal environment was where we had houses, trees, power lines and everything that you would encounter on a kind of typical street in the suburban United States. Through the Nevada test site, we found that Hawthorne was a candidate that had all of these characteristics and that there was one area that was currently unpopulated. So we could simulate testing over houses without flying over people. So it was a perfect candidate.
Was UNR involved in this at all?
The way they’re involved is we have collaborations and research relationships with UNR. In addition to that, we’ve hired some of the top graduates from UNR’s drone course. And in addition to that, our office was initially on campus. So when we conducted the test, one of the partners to help make it possible was UNR.
There are a lot of companies working on delivery technology. Amazon. Walmart. Google. You seem to be ahead in conducting some domestic flights. What sets your technology apart?
What we’ve managed to do is thread the needle between the technology, the regulations and the public acceptance of this technology. And those really are three key things. Also, being the leading independent startup in a space dominated by kind of traditional, large corporations gives us a distinct advantage because we’re nimble and we’re seen as independent. That means companies all around the world want to work with us.
The way I see this industry rolling out is if you’re a large online retailer or a fast food company or any kind of an organization where delivery of your products has an impact on your bottom line, then you really have two options. You can either try to build your own delivery service or partner with someone who has it. And there are a lot of companies out there … who are not going to want Amazon to control (their deliveries).
Let’s say you had a deal with someone like McDonald’s. How do you transport something like food?
In a future world where Flirtey is working with fast-food delivery companies, for example, the drone which delivers the food is also the packaging which needs to have certain characteristics, such as keeping the drinks cold and the burgers warm. All of that will be part of the solution that we provide.
So you become a packaging company too?
Yes.
Looking at the whole landscape, how soon do you think it will be before we have drone delivery flights in the United States?
My observation, I think the observation of a lot of people watching the industry, is that the regulations are moving faster than many had anticipated … I think that within a couple of years, you will see drones delivering packages in the U.S.