The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is partnering with AirMap, Inc. to deploy the first statewide Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) initiative in the United States. Kansas will implement an “airport notification and awareness system for drones,” using AirMap’s UTM technology, providing airports across the state with access to the airspace management system. Airports that participate in the initiative will be able to accept digital flight notices, communicate with UAS operators, and prepare for UTM milestones that are coming down the pipeline, such as authorization for commercial UAS flights and automating airspace notification. For Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer, this initiative shows how committed the state of Kansas is to the UAS industry.

Measure, which is a U.S. provider of UAS technologies for enterprise customers, has announced that it has acquired Pilatus Unmanned, a company that specialized in UAS customization for commercial customers, and was one of the first Enterprise value-added resellers for DJI. The acquisition of Pilatus Unmanned is another indication of the rapid growth taking place at Measure, which recently introduced new technologies and toolkits for the solar and broadcast news industries.

The New South Wales (NSW) state government will officially launch a two-year trial of autonomous vehicles when the first stage of the trial begins later this month. During the first stage of the trial, a driverless shuttle bus, which will run autonomously on a pre-programmed route, will undergo tests and safety checks in an off-road environment at Newington Armoury, which is located near the former Olympic village. Next year, the trial will be extended to roads at Sydney Olympic Park, giving office workers and other members of the public the opportunity to ride in the vehicle. For Transport Minister Andrew Constance, this trial is all about finding out how this technology can benefit NSW.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia will use UAS to find and protect koalas in South East Queensland. Through a two-year project, QUT will provide rapid estimates of koala abundance, using UAS and high resolution imagery. The project is being led by Dr. Grant Hamilton from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty, who says that the technology would “provide a robust survey method for detecting koalas and estimating their numbers.” “The primary emphasis of this project is on the ecology of koala conservation, and we are using drones and automated imaging technology as tools to assist,” Hamilton says through the school's website.