In 2016, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo announced a $30 million investment project that would position New York State to become the Silicon Valley of the growing drone industry. Governor Cuomo appointed the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) to collaborate with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other aerospace entities to develop a dedicated drone test corridor. Within this corridor, drone capabilities would be tested for use in commercial applications to enhance drone technology and regulatory processes.

The drone corridor officially opened in 2019 and stretches 50 miles from Syracuse, NY, to the FAA’s New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY. Along the corridor are an array of sensors and cameras to capture data on drone operations. Since the opening of the drone corridor, companies and educational institutions from around the world have utilized the mostly rural expanse to trial different drone technologies. Subsequently, the corridor established the region as one of the first major drone incubator hubs worldwide.

As the drone industry continued to expand, more cities across the country invested in establishing themselves as drone incubator hubs. Notable areas include cities in North Carolina, Texas, and California, which have all become known for pushing the boundaries of drone capabilities through collaborative efforts between the FAA, commercial enterprises, and research centers. Nearly a decade after Governor Cuomo announced plans for the New York drone corridor, Purdue University has announced that it aims to build another drone corridor that will be the first of its kind in the country.

While the New York drone corridor was built for research purposes, Purdue is looking to build a designated drone corridor that can be used for commercial activities. The 155-year-old public university in West Lafayette, IN, has a reputation for being one of the best science and technology research centers within the Association of American Universities. In 2024, the university partnered with Windracers, a cargo drone company based in Southampton, England, with a rich history of collaborating with universities, to open the Center on AI in Digital, Autonomous, and Augmented Aviation ( AIDA3). As explained on the university’s website, “AIDA3 is building research infrastructure for a new field of science: Safe and trustworthy AI for aerial autonomy, aka AIrTonomy.”

The new program also launched a Smart Operations Center (SOC), which will be the backbone of Purdue’s actionable commercial drone corridor called Smart Crossways of America. Purdue’s Professor of Digital Innovation, Sabine Brunswicker, is the founding director of AIDA3, leading the charge for the development of the new corridor. “The Smart Crossways corridor will provide the Purdue-led AIDA3 team and collaborators a key, real-world test environment as it looks to explore and foster a converging field of R&D focused on AI-enabled autonomy, envisioning the future of urban air mobility,” Professor Brunswicker said. “We call this field AIrTonomy and emphasize its vision to develop safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence and machine learning systems for AAVs to operate safely in urban environments. We want to ensure that future autonomous drones and air taxis can safely move things and people beyond the visual line of sight.”

She went on to explain that the new drone corridor would be a designated space for unmanned aerial vehicles to travel safely. The corridor would stretch 200 miles from Purdue’s campus in West Lafayette, IN, to a station between the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, IN, and the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center near Butlerville, IN. The drones traveling throughout this corridor could be used to transport cargo, medical supplies, and even people. Before construction on the drone corridor begins, Karen Plaut, Purdue’s Executive Vice President of Research, said that AIDA3 has built a 15-mile-wide preliminary drone corridor called the Purdue Unmanned Proving Ground (PUP). “Geographically organized within a triangle near Purdue’s West Lafayette campus,” she said, “PUP brings together five unique indoor and outdoor facilities and infrastructure components that ensure research can iterate rapidly from ‘lab to life.'”

As the drone industry continues to evolve, the development of these dedicated corridors for testing and commercialization represents a crucial step toward realizing the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles in both research and practical applications. With Purdue University’s ambitious Smart Crossways of America project and the ongoing success of New York’s drone corridor, it is clear that innovation in drone technology is poised to reshape industries and communities alike. As these initiatives expand, the future of air mobility will be shaped by safe, efficient, and scalable solutions, driven by collaboration between universities, businesses, and government agencies.

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