Tender for drones sidelines local firm

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This article was published 24/02/2021 (1743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg company, one of only a handful of Canadian firms that make drones, is disappointed it is effectively being shut out of a City of Winnipeg tender to acquire two new drones.

The city wants to buy two more unmanned aerial vehicles, one each for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service and the Winnipeg Police Service.

The WFPS was at the vanguard of first responders across the country to test the use of drones in large structure fires, wild fires, water rescues, and hazardous material calls.

Alan Tay, the CEO of Aurora Aerial Inc. said the fact the tender specifies a platform made by SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd., a Chinese company recognized as the world leader in civilian drones, almost automatically shuts it out of the competition.

DJI was recently blacklisted in the U.S. which bans U.S. companies from exporting to DJI.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned U.S. firms of the risks to company data from Chinese-made drones but it has not banned the purchase of Chinese drones by U.S. agencies.

A spokesperson for the city said, “The City of Winnipeg follows all Transport Canada rules and regulations for safe drone operation.”

She said the DJI Matrice 300 RTK is on Transport Canada’s list of drones eligible for advanced operations, meaning they are able to fly in controlled air spaces, near people or over people.

As well, the tender does include a clause that allows for bidders to request approval for substitutions.

“Any bidder can apply for this substitution and if approved, the city will issue an addendum to identify a new approved product,” the spokesperson said.

But that might not be enough to qualify Aurora for the tender. Its equipment is certified to safely fly over people but its drones are larger and heavier than the DJI models.

DJI is the leader in the market that would generally be characterized as consumer. They are smaller, lighter and much less expensive than Aurora’s which sell for more than $50,000 each.

But Tay said it is disappointing when a young company — it started two years ago — that’s trying to break into the market is not able to bid on work for its home town.

Aurora has only made 10 drones, but it employs 14 people in the city, including four University of Manitoba co-op students.

Tay said that while the commercial market for drones is growing, “it would be a great boost for the company to have our home town be one of our customers.”

Aurora also partners with another local company, MicroPilot, which makes control systems and other technology for drones.

Howard Loewen, the CEO of MicroPilot, said the market for drones has been steadily on the rise.

“There has been some progress but it is still painfully slow,” he said. “If you want to fly a drone outside the line of sight of the operator… that can be quite challenging.”

He said they are certainly being used more by fire and police departments, but he said, “They are still very experimental and mostly low-capability drones and many are still being driven around in the trunk of a car” to the site that needs observation even though the technology makes them perfectly able to actually fly to the site.

Tay said Aurora is working on certification to allow them to be used outside the line of sight.

The company’s market strategy is to concentrate on last-mile delivery for logistics companies. It has at least one customer that is using Aurora’s drones for medical deliveries. The company is talking to logistics companies about potential partnerships.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca