On August 14th, a drone weighing 1,215 pounds took off from the tarmac at an air base in Camp Roberts, California. It reached a height of 10 feet, hovered for 64 seconds, and then landed. It was the first successful test flight for Elroy Air, a San Francisco-based startup that aims to put its heavy-lift cargo drones in the air, delivering larger-than-average payloads by 2020.
It’s a modest beginning to what could eventually become a trillion-dollar business, if you believe the analysts who think autonomous drone delivery — in particular, cargo drone delivery — has the potential to disrupt the logistics industry. Elroy is among a handful of startups focused on vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, but for aerial delivery rather…