Muscat drone delivery trials

USV Robotics begins drone delivery trials begin in Muscat

First announced by Menlo Park-headquartered UVL Robotics in January, live trials for a commercial drone delivery service in Oman's capital area of Muscat have started. Following a signing ceremony with the Sultanate's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and Muscat Municipality, the drone delivery trial begins by serving the residents of Muscat Bay - a luxury residential development in Qantab, south of Muscat city. 

UVL Robotics will deploy drones with a 25km range, able to deliver payloads of up to 5kg, which could include merchandise, food parcels and other items. In subsequent phases, the drone delivery service will be expanded to other areas of the Muscat governorate, beginning with the outlying areas of Al Khairan, Sifah.Yanket and Yeti. 

Last month, UVL Robotics revealed that it had received permissions from multiple Omani government authorities to fly drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), enabling a city-wide service. Drone delivery in the mountainous south of Oman's capital area would arguably require BVLOS drone operations and also present the opportunity of delivering packages faster than road transport alternatives.

UVL Robotics has been testing drone delivery across the country for a number of years, including tests in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (Sezad) on its southern coastline and in Nizwa, in Oman's northern interior. The company also recently announced a partnership with Oman Post that would allow drone services to take advantage of the logistics firm's customer services and infrastructure. 

Drone ecosystem players around the region will, no doubt, be watching the Muscat drone delivery trials closely.

Find out more about this story:

• Read more about UVL Robotics Oman plans in Middle East AI News 06-Jan-22.

• Read today's story in the Muscat Daily.