Front row: Dzuleira Abu Bakar, MaGIC CEO with Pete Chareonwongsak, Teleport CEO at the MOU ceremony. Back row from left: Ir Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, Secretary General, Mosti, Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group
Teleport, the logistics venture of airasia Digital, has partnered with Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), the Lead Secretariat of the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS), to launch the Urban Drone Delivery Sandbox and develop a long-term viability of urban drone delivery service.
The pilot project for the delivery of goods from airasia’s e-commerce platforms including airasia shop using automated drones is set to be carried out through a six-month phased approach at the third National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) test site in Cyberjaya. The service is currently at testing stage with two local drone operators VStream Revolution and Meraque Services.
The first phase of the project in Cyberjaya seeks to assess the capability, experience, approval process, deployment readiness and service expansion of the drone operators. The service will be deployed upon a successful trial phase and might be expanded beyond the sandbox environment. As a national solution coordination and facilitation centre, NTIS provides a critical step by eliminating all or selected processes and/or regulatory requirements to accelerate the development of innovative solutions from the R&D stage to being commercially ready.
In realising this project, NTIS has been working closely with Malaysia’s sole technical regulator, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) to ensure the safety and security of Unmanned Air Services in urban settings meets the requirements and regulations as set by CAAM. This is to ensure that public safety remains the highest priority whilst facilitating technology advancement.
Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) said:
“We are poised to be the frontrunner in the DroneTech industry, which is expected to generate US$127 billion (RM517.5 billion) by 2025. The global market size specific to drone package delivery was US$642.4 million in 2019, and is projected to reach US$7.39 billion in 2027.”
Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group noted that AirAsia has been at the forefront of innovation since it was established 20 years ago.
“Today, we have disrupted the e-commerce industry with the AirAsia super app, offering food, groceries, duty-free products delivery by our logistics venture, Teleport and more. As we are in it for the long-run, we are excited to be partnering with MaGIC to explore urban drone delivery – an innovative logistic solution that will ultimately improve efficiency and operational excellence as well as accelerate the pace of delivery in urban areas.”
Source: Press Release