Sabrewing Plans a Cargo Drone That Can Detect and Avoid Obstacles

For a pilot, there really is no substitute for knowing what's in front of you. In a drone, that capability is known as detect and avoid, and so far, no drone has cleared the bar. Sabrewing, a startup in Camarillo, Calif., may well be the first to do it. It's working on a cargo-carrying drone that's due to begin test flights in 2020. "Even the military does it only in a kind of rudimentary way, say with a camera system; our system has to provide a way for the aircraft to autonomously avoid obstacles," says Ed De Reyes, the chief executive of Sabrewing.