Drone Delivery Analysis
What advances have been made? How close are we to commercial delivery?
One day, drone delivery will be fully implemented in an urban area. The question is, “When?”. However, before determining that, other questions must be answered.
So, what is drone delivery? Well, the term is pretty self-explanatory. The definition is “to transport packages, food or other goods by using a UAV.”. drones originated in the same way as many other technologies have: from the military. Modern drone warfare began in 1982, and multiple countries invested in research and resources. In fact, nearly 100 countries now have military drones. They are used for missile strikes, combat surveillance, and other use cases that are “top secret”. Only in 2006 were drones used for non-military purposes (sad, huh?). Finally, in 2013, Jeff Bezos of Amazon announced the company was considering using them as a delivery method. Of course, that ignited a public interest.
Since then, the company has made several advances. They’ve done lots of private testing, and their first delivery to a customer was in late 2016. they now have Prime Air development centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Austria, France and Israel. Other than some images, they haven’t documented much of their research. Amazon Prime Air is one of the leading companies in drone delivery, but several others have made significant strides as well:
Flirtey:
This company organized the first FAA-approved drone delivery, and is the first drone delivery service in the world. Their goal is to save lives and improve lifestyles by making delivery instant for everyone. More information can be found on their website.
Zipline:
Sometimes using a simpler approach is the key to success. Zipline focuses on delivering vital blood samples and medical supplies to nearby hospitals. They use light electric drones that they launch into the air with a catapult mechanism. When the drone reaches its location, a cardboard box with a paper parachute is released, and the customers receive their package. They have now completed over 28 000 deliveries. While the process sounds simple, there are many details and technicalities that must be attended to.
Flytrex:
A drone delivery company that specializes in “backyard deliveries”. They also focus on the safety of their drones rather than the speed or size of them. They’ve organized projects in two locations thus far: Iceland and North Dakota.
Multiple other companies are also working on drone delivery. However, there are complications:
- Airspace: One of the main worries about introducing delivery drones is the airspace that they will take. The approval processes with administrations such as the FAA are lengthy, and might not even be accepted. There are multiple suggestions to solve the problem of shared airspace.
- Weather: The drones must be able to operate at any time. Either the drones would have to withstand extreme weather, or delivery could only be available at certain times/locations
- Range: Flight range is a crucial factor in the operation of drones; less range means that more stations would be needed to cover a certain area.
- Package weight: As you can imagine, drones can only carry supplies of a certain weight. This makes drone delivery situational; it is only used for small, fast deliveries.
- People: Many of the drones aren’t foolproof. People could steal packages or even drones. There have also been reports of people shooting down drones.
Drone delivery, in my opinion, will become commercially available and widely used in the next few years. However, after some time the technology will go through the “Trough of Disillusionment” on the hype cycle since at first, the deliveries would be expensive, and only small products can be ordered. However, drone delivery would be very useful to industries rather than individuals. Specifically, the healthcare industry would benefit from the fast delivery of supplies for crucial moments.
Key Takeaways:
- Drone delivery is already happening, it’s just a matter of time before it’s commercially available
- It will not completely replace other methods of delivery due to the disadvantages (small packages, low weather resistance, etc.)
- Delivery by drone has multiple purposes, industries would benefit more than individuals.
Thanks for reading! I’m a university student passionate about emerging technology, coding, engineering, and more. You can follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn.
