Percepto, a developer of autonomous drone technology for inspection and surveillance, has received significant FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approval to operate a full fleet of Percepto drones remotely by one operator.
While previous Percepto operations required one pilot to monitor and operate one drone, this groundbreaking approval allows for the commercial operation of up to 30 Percepto autonomous drones simultaneously with one pilot for cost-effective critical infrastructure inspection.
For heavy industries such as oil & gas, utilities, and other energy stakeholders, this approval brings a revolutionary shift. It significantly reduces operational expenses and boosts operational efficiencies for critical infrastructure inspections.
With this approval, Percepto’s heavy industry clients can now implement large-scale drone fleet inspections, scaling their drone programs safely, quickly, and effortlessly. This not only lowers costs for new entrants who are seeking to utilize drones to enhance their operations for the first time, but it also encourages more market players to establish new drone programs, which are now more cost-effective than ever.
Percepto’s autonomous inspection and monitoring solution (AIM) platform fully automates visual data workflows from capture to insight, leveraging the Percepto Air drone-in-a-box portfolio alongside other robots and visual sensors. Using advanced machine learning and AI, Percepto AIM provides an end-to-end autonomous inspection and monitoring solution to assess risk, minimize downtime, drive efficiency, increase safety, and reduce operational costs.
Percepto’s new waiver allows for safe nationwide drone BVLOS operations with no humans on site or the need for expensive radars. Percepto says the remote pre-flight checks, extensive automation, and the ability to operate up to 30 drone-in-a-box systems simultaneously under a single operator’s supervision will permit dramatic advances in efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Moreover, this waiver is the last piece of the remote operations puzzle, alongside Percepto’s state-of-the-art drone-in-a-box hardware and autonomous inspection software.
“For years, Percepto has been leading the remote inspection revolution – both on the regulatory and technology fronts,” said Percepto Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Ariel Avitan. “Simply put, with large-scale remote inspections, we’ll see fewer large-scale safety and environmental failures across critical infrastructure.”
“Percepto is very grateful for the FAA’s approval of this waiver, the true holy grail, which was achieved through years of continued cooperation with the FAA,” said Neta Gliksman, Percepto VP of Policy and Government Affairs, in a statement. “This is opening doors for critical inspection operations for our clients, expanding the possibilities and scale of autonomous inspection technology.”
