At 9:15 AM on October 15, in the Zhejiang Overseas High-level Talent Innovation Park, a drone rapidly soared into the sky and flew away. It carried four cups of coffee which had just prepared to the Future Research and Innovation Park, three kilometers away. Originally just a test scenario, starting today, such delivery drones will be distributed across Hangzhou to form a network along customized routes.

In the future, in addition to coffee, medical supplies, mail, and other loads will also be delivered by drone to each corner of Hangzhou, delivering another “intelligent upgrade” to the Hangzhou lifestyle. This is set to become a historical footnote for China’s civil aviation and Hangzhou’s logistics industry.

On October 15, Lv Erxue, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), awarded a Letter of Approval for Trial Operation of Specific Types of Drones and Business License for Drone-based Logistics and Distribution to Zhang Lei, the CEO of Hangzhou Songba Logistics Technology Co., Ltd. affiliated to Hangzhou Fast Ant Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Commercial drones, an important future link in urban traffic and transport, are closely related to next-generation information technologies such as cloud computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence, and 5G. Hangzhou Fast Ant Network Technology Co., Ltd., a key commercial drone company, has remained committed to building a large-scale network of robot-based transport capacity. Fast Ant has deployed and built drone-based postal routes and logistics systems, working with other enterprises such as China Post, Cainiao, Suning, and ZTO, taking the lead globally in logistics drones.

It’s reported that before receiving the Letter of Approval, Songba Company, under Fast Ant, completed more than 20,000 test flights for logistics operations in the urban testing areas of Hangzhou and in mountainous regions such as Anji, Huzhou. Songba has passed risk evaluation and flight testing for specific operations organized by the CAAC, and can ensure the safety and reliability of operations in complex urban environments.

Executive Editor: Bei Xu

Translation: Bei Xu, Wenjin Chen