Drone News: Zipline Expands, NASA for Drone Hazards, Drone Detectors at Border, BRINC Raises 75m

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have 4 stories for you this week. Zipline expands its drone delivery service into Texas through a partnership with Walmart, NASA is developing a new system designed to predict drone hazards before they happen, Pierce Aerospace has deployed drone detectors to the US Border, and BRINC raises $75m.

First up this week, Zipline is bringing its drone delivery service to the Dallas area, starting in Mesquite, Texas. This expansion comes through a partnership with retail giant Walmart. Customers in the service area can now sign up to get orders delivered in about 30 minutes using Zipline's latest drone model, the P2 Zip.The drone can carry payloads up to eight pounds within a 10-mile radius. Zipline boasts about their precision, claiming "dinner plate-level" accuracy, meaning they can land a package on a space as small as a doorstep or a small table. The P2 Zip uses both lift and cruise propellers and has a fixed-wing design, which helps it fly quietly and handle gusts of wind up to 45 miles per hour, even in the rain.The delivery process is interesting: the P2 Zip hovers around 300 feet up, then lowers a smaller container, called the 'delivery zip,' on a tether. This smaller unit uses fan-like thrusters to maneuver precisely into place before gently setting the package down. Both parts use cameras, sensors, and Nvidia chips to navigate and avoid obstacles.Next up, NASA is working on making drone flights safer with an advanced software system designed to predict potential airborne hazards *before* they actually occur. It's called the In-Time Aviation Safety Management System, or IASMS for short. The main idea behind IASMS is real-time risk assessment. Instead of just reacting when something goes wrong, like a loss of navigation or communication, the system aims to anticipate these kinds of threats and alert drone operators ahead of time.Michael Vincent from NASA’s Langley Research Center put it simply, saying the system ideally works unnoticed in the background, only intervening right before an unusual situation might arise. NASA has been putting IASMS through its paces. Back on March 5th, they ran extensive simulations at the Ames Research Center. These focused on complex scenarios like hurricane relief missions involving multiple drones doing things like beyond-visual-line-of-sight supply drops and inspections.Next up, Pierce Aerospace just announced a partnership with a company called Skylark Labs, bringing some next-level drone detection tech to the US-Mexico border and beyond. Basically, they've put Pierce's YR1 Remote ID Sensor and other drone detection sensors on Skylark's 100-foot Scout Tower, alongside this tech they are calling "Superintelligence AI."What makes this setup special is that the AI actually learns in real-time from the data it collects in the field, rather than relying on pre-programmed stuff that might be outdated. The system can detect, track, and identify drones and other potential threats, giving border security and law enforcement a much better picture of what's happening both in the air and on the ground. Last up, Seattle-based drone manufacturer BRINC secured $75m in new funding and announced a strategic alliance with Motorola Solutions. The alliance integrates BRINC drones with Motorola's APX radios, VESTA 911 call management systems, Computer Aided Dispatch, and Real-Time Crime Center Software. This means that drones could get dispatched automatically.Join us later for happy hour in the community. We are also BACK for the live Q&A on Monday after a 3-week hiatus due to the move and travel. Post-flight is also back on Monday in the premium community as well. So we'll see you then.https://dronexl.co/2025/04/06/nasa-drone-safety-hazard-detection/https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/drone-delivery-startup-zipline-expands-to-texas-with-walmart.htmlhttp://pierceaerospace.net/