Five skimmer delivery companies have been selected to begin an experiment in the skies of Hadera

Five skimmer delivery companies have been selected to begin an experiment in the skies of Hadera starting in late March. As part of the experiment, they will operate 20 skimmers together, to prove their ability to operate safely in the same area. Flights will start over agricultural land near the city, and after a few weeks will also pass over populated areas. From June, experiments will begin in dealing with skimmer operators with safety incidents such as the intrusion of a helicopter into their lane.
This is a project of the Ministry of Transportation led by Ayalon Lines and the Innovation Authority, known as the NAMA project - urban mobility in the airspace. , To the extent that it resembled commercial activity, with the skimmers replacing couriers on motorcycles and delivery drivers.The state will invest NIS 6 million in the experiment.
Safety will be managed from the center of Ayalon routes in Haifa, with the gliders flying autonomously to their destinations, with each company having an operator who can intervene as soon as there is a warning of a malfunction, the intrusion of aircraft into the route and more.
Sagi Dagan, VP of the Innovation Authority, said that “after we ended 2020 without any safety incident in the drug shipments in the hospitals, we are making a big leap forward. The goal is to reach a situation in commercial operation where one operator controls 10 gliders that make 100 flights a day. Then there will also be economic viability in operating air shipments, which skip over traffic jams. The shipping price will then be estimated at NIS 20, and will be competitive for a mounted courier, and much faster. "
The companies that will operate the skimmers are: Highlander Aviation and Kendo and Jurmish, Airways Drones, Hartek Technologies, FT Aerial Solutions and Simplex Interactive.
"This is a real transportation revolution, of integrating autonomous skimmers in the airspace of the entire State of Israel, from shipments of medicines, tests and medical equipment, through agricultural spraying to postal services or food deliveries to the customer's home," explains Aharon Aharon, CEO of the Innovation Authority.
It is estimated that as early as this year, the first commercial operations of skimmers will be approved, which will enter widespread use throughout the country in 2022. In the world, companies such as Amazon and even Israeli Playtrax already operate skimmer shipments in limited areas, but Israel will be the first to test the operation of five different companies in the same area.
"Skimmers will become part of our daily routine in the coming years, and the range of uses in them will expand. As those responsible for transportation in the air, it is our job to promote the regulation that will allow this," says Ofer Malka, director general of the Ministry of Transportation.
The call, created by the Innovation Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation and Director of Fuel Substitutes and Smart Transportation at the Prime Minister's Office, invited Israeli technology companies in the field of multi-blade technologies (skimmers) to apply for grants in pilot experiments and demonstrations in managed airspace. She chose companies that received approval to carry out the pilots and grants of up to 50% of the project costs.
According to Itamar Ben Meir, CEO of Netivei Ayalon, "The NAMA project is a great opportunity to integrate high-tech projects in the promotion and development of the use of skimmers to reduce congestion on the roads and encourage growth."