When you discuss “drones” lately, you most likely consider the small, buzzing cameras that hover high within the air, capturing images and photographs of the world below.
Manal Habib, the San Leandro-based founding father of aviation startup MightyFly, is pondering more imaginatively about autonomous aircraft. And she hopes her future customers will, too.
The company is working on patenting its latest generation of drones, which will probably be “three cars wide and one car long” and can have the option to move bulk goods as much as 960 kilometers – around twelve times further than their tiny counterparts.
In January, MightyFly received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct test flights in a 20-mile corridor between New Jerusalem Airport in Tracy and Byron Airport in eastern Contra Costa County.
MightyFly plans to launch its latest product, a third-generation drone called the 2024 Cento, and supply delivery services for manufacturers, retailers, healthcare providers and the U.S. Air Force. The company says its hybrid-powered drones produce far fewer carbon emissions than traditional delivery trucks.
Habib, whose curiosity was sparked on the age of three while birdwatching in Morocco, has at all times had high-flying ambitions which have taken her to great distances.
They first brought her to the US on a scholarship for college kids from the Middle East and North Africa, before she moved here permanently to check at MIT after which Stanford. A former NASA intern, Habib worked for quite a few aerospace corporations before founding MightyFly.
“Once you think three-dimensionally, you can improve life in so many ways,” she said.
Q: How did you give you the concept of developing drones of this size? How come nobody had ever discovered easy methods to increase their size so drastically before?
A: Well, there are far too many use cases for (already existing) drones. There's firefighting, transporting goods, surveillance. I worked for an organization that delivered blood to Rwanda – it was great to see how the drones work and the way they save people's lives. I loved seeing the impact this technology, even in its small size, can have.
However, I also saw some limitations: drones can carry several kilos and their range is often 50 miles. We needed something that offered 10 times higher results. When you go from 50 miles to 600 miles, there are limits in every single place.
In the start, when the technology was so recent, there have been so many points of drones to explore – regulations, hardware. It's not smart to tackle all of the challenges without delay. You need to tackle one by one, so it made sense to begin small.
Once we get the small-scale autonomy sorted out and in addition the regulatory side, it's time to scale up these area of interest operations and provides them a big impact. We've made amazing regulatory progress within the last yr. Right now could be an excellent time to push forward with these large autonomous aircraft.
Q: It looks as if an excellent innovation to cut back using fossil fuels for transporting bulk goods. Can you tell me more concerning the power behind your drones?
A: These are hybrid powered drones. With electric propulsion, you depend on batteries, just like an electrical automobile. You must charge your batteries at regular intervals.
At MightyFly, our goal is to be a hybrid vehicle because you possibly can't charge your entire (flight) range just electrically. And should you stick with electric, the demand for these very inefficient cargo vans will increase.
Instead, we will start reducing emissions now. Any reduction we will achieve now could be huge. And we don't need infrastructure to charge on the bottom. Our generators on the plane – the identical concept as within the hybrid automobile – can charge our batteries within the air.
By combining our hybrid system and smaller than standard size aircraft, you achieve an enormous reduction in CO2 emissions in freight transport.
Q: A truck drivers' union might criticise that these unmanned aerial vehicles could ultimately result in job losses within the transport sector. What do you say to that?
A: Well, these are higher jobs. With autonomous aircraft, loads of jobs will probably be created within the background. A whole lot of jobs will probably be created through this technology, and folks will find it more interesting than their current jobs.
Q: To what extent could the marketing of drones offer you the fame of a defense company like Raytheon or Palantir? How would you are feeling about this connection?
A: We don't plan to turn out to be a defense company; we goal the industrial market. You can consider us as a logistics company.
Our plan and business model is to concentrate on an accelerated delivery structure – a logistics services company with many alternative customers. This is our principal business model and our public image.
Q: You are a girl of color who moved from Morocco to begin a technology company within the East Bay. What do you are taking away out of your experience and profession path? And why San Leandro? There aren't that many technology startups there.
Personally, I don't care about gender when starting a business. You need expertise: you wish expertise by way of autonomy and expertise by way of regulations.
I'm on the lookout for the very best people for the job. If we take that under consideration within the hiring process, we will eliminate the stereotypes. If we concentrate on those (merits), we will address loads of diversity issues.
We think the San Leandro area is a reasonably good location. There are jobs all around the Bay Area, not only within the South Bay and San Francisco. A whole lot of people have families and really within the East Bay as well.
And so far as establishing an aircraft manufacturing facility… there are loads of software startups within the South Bay, but hardware is a reasonably large a part of the East Bay. There's extra space there to establish a facility.
WHO IS MANAL HABIB?
Title: Founder and CEO of MightyFly Inc.
Place of birth: Tangier, Morocco
Residence: Bay Area
Education: Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from MIT. Graduate program in aerospace engineering from Stanford.
FIVE THINGS ABOUT MANAL HABIB:
- An aviation enthusiast whose passion dates back to her childhood. As a baby, she loved watching birds and the sky. Although she couldn't fly herself, there have been planes that might and the concept of constructing and flying one became her obsession.
- A CEO, an aerospace engineer, a pilot and a developer of experimental aircraft.
- Loves MIT and its various labs a lot that she decided to stop sleeping as a consequence of time constraints and once went five days without sleep. (Don't try that!)
- She loves competing and winning a lot that she broke her foot 3 times in a row during a karate competition in 2014.
- An avid outdoorsman who enjoys running, biking, mountaineering, swimming, kayaking, skiing, and more. She once biked from San Francisco to Los Angeles!
image credit : www.mercurynews.com