Hands-free plane completes test flights in northeastern Ont.
A Toronto-based company conducted test flights of its autonomous plane in northeastern Ontario recently, specifically Cochrane and Iroquois Falls.
Ribbit, co-founded by aerospace engineers and a pilot, has invented a hands-free and fully automated aircraft.
"Overall, the tests were pretty successful," said Jeremy Wang, the company’s co-founder and chief operating officer.
"Over the next weeks, we’ll be reviewing that data with Transport Canada and an independent test verifier that’s associated with the contract that we have and then continuing flight tests back in Burlington, Ont. and later on in the new year we’ll be mobilizing to Alberta for more flight tests with no one inside the plane," he said.
- Download the CTV News app now and get local alerts on your device
- Get local breaking news and updates sent to your email inbox
Wang said the autonomous plane is a way to resolve issues faced by remote northern communities that don't have year-round road access.
"There’s about 120 destinations all across the north that today have no year-round road access,” said Wang.
“So airplanes play a really critical role in getting things like food, medicine, other time-sensitive or perishables to fly in and out of these communities and that’s where we want to start."
Wang will be participating at TCXpo in Ottawa next week. The expo is a 'smart mobility demonstration day' that aims to showcase technology that could be working in our sky or on our roads and farms.
“Drones are not there to replace humans, drones are there to cover off the dirty messy dangerous jobs that humans shouldn’t do so that we can focus on things that really matter on the ground or in the air," said Michael Tremblay, president and CEO of Invest Ottawa.
Wang told CTV News that Ribbit has already signed up a number of wholesalers and retailers and once trials are completed in the next couple of years, it can start supplying Canada's remote communities.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.