Aerialoop has deployed a new urban drone logistics pilot developed by Newlab in collaboration with Michigan Central, Airspace Link, Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, and the Michigan Department of Transportation. The pilot marks another major milestone for Michigan Central’s Advanced Aerial Innovation Region (AAIR) and will demonstrate the commercial and logistical potential of middle-mile drone operations in a real-world urban setting.

Using AAIR’s shared infrastructure—including the rooftop launch pad at Newlab and the digital infrastructure provided by Airspace Link—Aerialoop operates a 1-mile round-trip drone route between Newlab at Michigan Central and The 23rd, a repurposed industrial site nearby that houses flexible production for emerging hardware companies. With clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the drone route files beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) from the roof of Newlab, above the adjacent railroad corridor. The Aerialoop drone transports lightweight small batch prototype parts which are manufactured at Newlab to support local assembly operations.

Aerialoop—a drone logistics company that has completed more than 40,000 cargo delivery flights globally—was attracted to Newlab at Michigan Central in Detroit and secured funding through Michigan’s Advanced Aerial Mobility Activation Fund that laid the foundation for the pilot. As a Newlab member, Aerialoop has received support with prototyping and aligning pilot requirements to Detroit’s mobility ecosystem, enabling the company to focus on drone operations, route logistics, and flight management. To date, Aerialoop has successfully completed more than 600 flights at Michigan Central carrying cargo between properties. In total, Aerialoop has traversed more than 360 miles—a distance that’s almost equivalent to flying nonstop from Detroit to Baltimore—without adding additional traffic and emissions to the neighboring community. The cargo delivery via drone has proved to be 5X more energy efficient than if transported by vehicle through the streets of the Corktown neighborhood.