Drone Delivery Canada is a publicly traded, award-winning, ISO 9001-certified company focused on designing, developing and implementing commercially viable, drone-based delivery systems. CEO Steve Magirias explained to Hannah Barnett how the company is disrupting the logistics market.
TADrone Delivery Canada, for operations to run smoothly, a close relationship with its customer base is paramount. The company provides a complete turnkey logistics solution, including a proprietary software system known as FLYTE, alongside hardware and professional services. This allows for a safe and secure autonomous cargo delivery process from depot to depot.
“We don’t just sell a drone and leave the customer to their own devices,” Steve Magirias, CEO, said: “we run a managed service. This means we work with the client; we evaluate the best possible route, implement everything and do the test flights. We
go to full production once we’ve validated all the checks and balances to ensure everything is working together, and then we fly based on the customer schedule.”
An overview of innovation
Drone Delivery Canada, located in Vaughan, near Toronto, was founded in 2014 to provide a disruptive, advanced drone logistics infrastructure solution. Company contracts in commercial and industrial applications include, but are not limited to, emergency and medical services, mining, the oil and gas sector, parcel delivery, and providing goods to remote communities, both indige nous and non-indigenous.
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For its first five years, DDC was dedicated to development and prototyping. A big milestone was reached in 2019, when the company commenced commercial routes and developed a strong relationship with the Canadian regulator, Transport Canada. “Getting something flying commercially really helped propel the company, by giving us legitimacy and raising additional funding in order to keep advancing the development of our products and growing to where we are today,” said Mr Magirias.
Aviation safety and regulatory compliance is of upmost importance to the company. This includes risk assessments, a safety management system, operational training programmes and HSE reporting processes similar to those used in commercial aviation.
“We are focused on getting the technology to the point where it can be scaled-up,” Mr Magirias explained. “Although we want to have as much of a market share and the highest revenue possible, the main priority for us is to advance the technology forward to a fully autonomous solution that complies with regulations.”
Scaling-up with EIA and more
One of the company’s milestone partnerships began in 2019 with Edmonton International Airport (EIA). It is a collaboration with Zing and Apple Express and came about through DDC’s 10-year strategic relationship with Air Canada Cargo.
The project used drones to transport cargo and parcels between the airport and nearby industrial areas, improving logistics a nd reducing ground transportation and road congestion. It also demonstrates the efficiency, safety and reliability of DDC’s drone delivery platform.
“One of the challenges on the EIA project was complying with Transport Canada and Nav Canada, so as to not disrupt the flight path of the planes,” Mr Magirias explained. “Typically, the sweet spot to fly a drone is between 300 and 400 feet. At the Edmonton Airport we are flying as low as 50 feet. We must ensure we meet the requirements and avoid any situations where we have to deconflict with regular airport traffic.”
In 2022, as the first drone operation on i nternational airport grounds, DDC won an XCELLENCE Award for innovation from
the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI).
With phase two in the planning stages, and a three-month extension recently announced on the contract, DDC hopes to continue to add value for its airport partners. “The EIA are extremely focused on advancements in technology,” Mr Magirias said. “They’ve been big supporters of ours throughout the whole process and are a great team of people to work with.”
Another arm of the deliveries sector has involved distributing medical isotopes from the DSV depot to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. At 13.4km, it is DDC’s
longest commercial route to date, and the drone covers the distance in just under 15 minutes. The long-term goal is to establish a full ecosystem of drones delivering between multiple hospitals.
One of DDC’s standout projects was delivering COVID-19 test kits and pharmaceuticals from the village of Fraser Lake, across the water to the Stellat’en First Nation community in British Colombia. “This was a first pilot project,” Mr Magirias explained. “But it’s very innovative: it was the first of its kind that we know of, at least within Canada. We’re looking forward to more projects in that sector.”
FLYTE is right
FLYTE is DDC’s flagship virtual flight management software that allows for secure automated operations, monitoring of commercial air traffic, weather and other data, from the Operations Control Centre.
“Our FLYTE software controls everything,” said Mr Magirias. “It’s the heart and the brains, if you will. It’s a requirement within Canada that every flight has a remote pilot in command. So anytime we fly for commercial reasons or for development testing, our team is monitoring all the flights from our Operations Control Centre at our headquarters. The software helps us pre-program the route and the waypoints as well as monitor every aspect involved in each flight.”
FLYTE also offers a sophisticated logistics system including real-time package tracking, delivery notifications, scheduling, monitoring logs for temperature-sensitive cargo and maintenance records of all drones including their components.
To complement a customers’ existing supply chain, FLYTE can be easily integrated with internal logistics software via APIs. “We don’t just sell the hardware: what a customer gets is a full logistics solution that can deliver the cargo where it’s needed,” Mr Magirias added.
The future of drones
As the market for drones continues to expand, DDC has set its sights on eventual expansion to the US – where the sector is
already much larger – and globally. This will mean continuing to consolidate its current position and retaining strong business relationships. The company meets with suppliers every quarter to keep its partners abreast of new developments.
“We have a few key suppliers,” said Mr Magirias. “Some are used by others in the industry, some are proprietary, using our technology. The main goal is to have open communication and regular dialogue, so they understand where we’re going and what our expectations are going forward. Ultimately, they’re a business and have an eye on revenue for themselves too. When you’re trying to beat down suppliers on price, it doesn’t build a great relationship. We want a relationship of transparency.”
DDC also wants to strengthen and maintain its sustainable credentials. When roughly 80% of all packages delivered across Canada are less than five pounds in weight, drone delivery is a sustainable option compared to a gas-guzzling truck. The same could be said of a drone’s potential in the food delivery space. That’s not all they can do though, as some of the innovative sectors DDC is operating in makes clear.
“Most people will look at the convenience of drone delivery,” Mr Magirias concluded. “But there could also be a lifesaving aspect when it comes to wildfires and getting drones to do things that would otherwise put humans in danger. There’s a lot of good that can come from drones, along with delivering people’s coffee and things like that.
“I think the future is bright – and drones will make a big difference. It’s really not a question of if, but when.” n
