California-based delivery drone company Matternet has been given a Production Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This means that the company can now start mass-producing its M2 delivery drones.
This comes after the news made earlier this year when the M2 aircraft received FAA standard Type Certification, the first of its type for an unmanned aircraft.
The Production Certificate will eventually allow Matternet to produce, test, and grant airworthiness certificates for M2 drones. The company's factory in Mountain View, California, will manufacture the Matternet M2 drones.
Another Milestone
"Receiving an FAA Production Certificate is yet another milestone establishing Matternet as the first - and currently only - company able to produce certified delivery drone systems in the United States," Andreas Raptopoulos, founder and CEO of Matternet, said in a press release statement.
"The aircraft produced under this Certificate will be the very ones that lead a transformation of how we deliver time sensitive materials, especially in critical industries like health care."
Matternet claims that unmanned delivery can be a substantial answer to problems encountered by health systems that are increasingly overburdened. The company has set its eye on growing its U.S. operations.
The company added that the drone delivery system could make it possible to quickly, on-demand, and regularly transfer biological lab samples to facilities used for off-site testing.
This makes it possible for medical professionals and patients to receive answers more quickly while processing laboratory tests more effectively.
Matternet claims these tests are frequently distributed unevenly and place a heavy burden on expensive overnight lab staff due to the high volume of tests they require.
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Small Select Group
Matternet has also been one of a small select group of companies that have been supplying aircraft and supporting equipment for air carrier operation under the FAA's Part 135 framework for revenue on-demand air carrier operations for the past four years.
This made it possible for carriers to run drone networks as these technologies were being tested. Matternet is the first firm in the U.S. to have a certified and in-production aircraft that has been declared airworthy and ready for commercial delivery operations and now possesses both a Type Certification and a Production Certificate.
The first M2 drones manufactured by Matternet under this Production Certificate are anticipated to go into service in December 2022.
In 2017, Matternet became the first business in the world to be granted permission to operate commercial BVLOS drone logistics networks above Swiss cities.
The first commercial drone delivery operations in the U.S. were launched in 2019 as a result of a partnership between Matternet and UPS.
The Matternet M2 delivery system was the first in the world to receive standard Type Certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in 2022.
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