As countries around the world gradually lift regulations on the use of commercial drones, a new startup called Flirtey hopes to turn Australia into a worldwide industry leader for the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in e-commerce deliveries. Flirtey plans to launch commercial drone delivery of textbooks purchased from Zookal for domestic customers in 2014 before expanding to the U.S. in 2015. The startup says this marks the first use of fully automated commercial zones for package delivery in the world.
Other companies seeking to legitimize drones for commercial use include the U.S.-based 3D Robotics, which recently raised a $30 million Series B round, and Matternet. Flirtey, a joint venture with Zookal, a student services platform, started as a project by engineering students at the University of Sydney and now seeks to test, scale and commercialize UAVs before exporting its technology around the world.
Ahmed Haider, CEO of Zookal and co-founder of Flirtey, says Australia is in a unique position to pioneer the global UAV industry because of regulations by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) designed to encourage adoption of drone technology, as well as the continent’s geography, which ranges from densely populated cities to vast swathes of rural Outback.
