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DroneWaves: Urban planning for drone delivery

Local jurisdictional guidance is lacking, UrbanFootprint’s Goldstein says

(Photo: FreightWaves)

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ DroneWaves Summit.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Planning urban centers for drone delivery

DETAILS: Kaylee Nix, a reporter at FreightWaves, and Joshua Goldstein chat about how UrbanFootprint is taking a data-driven approach to planning layouts of urban environments. The logistics of drone operations and getting governmental approval in cities is quite complicated.

SPEAKER: Goldstein is the director of business development and partnerships at UrbanFootprint.


BIO: UrbanFootprint uses a software platform with in-depth urban planning data to help organizations transition to more sustainable, green economies. Goldstein has nearly a decade of experience building technology companies that work on hard public-sector problems. He was the co-founder and CEO of the Department of Better Technology and chief product officer at CityBase. Goldstein has also worked at Google, the World Bank and USAID.

KEY QUOTES FROM GOLDSTEIN:

“Many cities or local jurisdictions aren’t providing guidance on things like route planning, things like takeoff and landing, things like, ‘Can you fly over preschools?’ … I think that’s the biggest practical challenge that folks are facing.”

“From both an operational perspective and from the policy dialogue and policy planning part of this story, I think there are a lot of folks from city managers to mayors that we’ve talked to who want to be leaders in this space and are looking for private-sector partners to test some of these things.”

“I think we’re very far from the ideal Jetsons world that we all maybe want to live in in terms of a really crowded urban airspace.”

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Alyssa Sporrer

Alyssa is a staff writer at FreightWaves, covering sustainability news in the freight and supply chain industry, from low-carbon fuels to social sustainability, emissions & more. She graduated from Iowa State University with a double major in Marketing and Environmental Studies. She is passionate about all things environmental and enjoys outdoor activities such as skiing, ultimate frisbee, hiking, and soccer.