Abu Dhabi’s SkyGo invests in commercial drones provider Airobotics for goods transportation
Airobotics and Sky Go Transport of Goods, a UAE-based company with commercial license to provide unmanned aerial transport of goods and services across the city of Abu Dhabi, have agreed a joint venture to provide aerial drone services to the city of Abu Dhabi.
Airobotics is a wholly-owned subsidiary Ondas Holdings, a provider of private industrial wireless networks and commercial drone and automated data solutions.
As a part of the partnership, Airobotics, subject to the finalization of required formalities, has received an initial multi-system purchase order for $3.5 million from SkyGo. The purchase order is conditioned by the completion of proof of concept.
Through the SkyGo joint venture, Airobotics and SkyGo will deploy Optimus Systems at Industrial and Municipal sites, leveraging the autonomous Optimus System drone platform for various services and capabilities.
Airobotics and SkyGo expect to deploy more than 20 systems across Abu Dhabi over the next few years. The Term Sheet with SkyGo comes after the acquisition of Airobotics by Ondas.
The SkyGo joint venture initiative was developed and advanced by our strategic partner DoverTower DMCC, a UAE company that specializes in large-scale tech partnerships in the country and the region.
Meir Kliner, Airobotics founder and CEO, says: “We are excited to work with the visionary leadership of SkyGo to deploy valuable drone services to critical infrastructure, logistics and government customers across the city of Abu Dhabi.
“The combination of SkyGo’s market and application expertise and Airobotics robust technology platform enables a powerful partnership.
“We believe the Smart City drone services go-to-market model with SkyGo in Abu Dhabi will be scalable in many markets throughout the world providing a wide variety of smart cities data solutions in urban environments.”
The Airobotics Optimus Urban Drone Infrastructure is expected to be deployed throughout Abu Dhabi to conduct various types of missions, including in providing public services in a sustainable and scalable manner.
The Urban Drone Infrastructure, which is designed to operate as a network of smart drones, will be used in various cases such as aerial priority delivery and monitoring missions to increase the safety and quality of industrial operations in facilities such as ports, railways, highways and so on.
Mohammed Al Dhaheri, SkyGo CEO, says: “Our partnership with Airobotics will enable us to offer a wide range of services to our customers in Abu Dhabi using their Optimus System, an autonomous drone platform with powerful capabilities.
“Through this partnership, SkyGo will benefit from the technical expertise of the Airobotics team combined with our innovative business model and local knowledge.”
SkyGo is recognized as a leading innovator in the deployment of commercial drone solutions in the UAE and has extensive relationships and experience in aerial licensing and permits in Abu Dhabi.
Through the SkyGo joint venture, SkyGo and Airobotics will deploy the Airobotics Optimus System as Urban Drone Infrastructure across Abu Dhabi.
Airobotics and SkyGo agreed to certain rights in joint venture to access and use the Optimus System and to market, sell and distribute certain services related to the use of the Optimus System, including data collection and analysis services.
The parties intend to work together to deploy over 20 Optimus Systems throughout Abu Dhabi, in order to provide services to third parties, including certain governmental entities. Airobotics expects the initial commercial customer deployment by the SkyGo joint venture in the first quarter of 2023.