DGCA has finalised 10 drone-based startups for BVLOS Project

DGCA has selected 10 startups for the BVLOS Project (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) in a major push towards the drone sector in India. This project is a part of an effort by the DGCA to formulate rules and regulations around the commercial use of these BVLOS drones, as and when they are allowed to operate for commercial use.

A total of 34 consortia applied for this project, out of which 10 were selected. The selected startups include Asteria Aerospace (backed by Reliance), Dunzo (backed by Google), Nandan Nilekani (backed by ShopX) among others. As a part of this project, the DGCA shortlisted 13 consortia in April 2020 and told them that they’ll start receiving permission letters from the regulator soon. Although the process was halted for a while due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Apart from the listed startups, the list also includes ‘big-players’ like Spicejet and ClearSky Flight Consortium. Every startup is aiming at a different use-case of this project. Some consortia like ShopXOmnipresent and ANRA are planning to test delivery using drones, while others like Spicejet are planning to test the transport of cargo goods.

Startups participating in this project are exempted from current drone regulations of flying the drone beyond the visual line of sight. They also don’t require the no permission no take-off (NPNT) clearance before each flight, or unique identification numbers (UIN). Although the DGCA has relaxed most of the regulations for the project, the drones still need to have a DAN (Drone Acknowledgement Number).

As per the DGCA, the aim of this project is to “create evidence-based regulatory requirements to enable commercial BVLOS operations in the near future”. This project comes at a very important time as the industry is making a push towards contactless deliveries post COVID era. The startups that have received the letter have been asked to submit a proof of concept by September 2020. The DGCA has called a committee, BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring (BEAM), for the same. The committee is headed by the Airport Authority of India’s joint general manager, Dilip Kumar Damodaran.