Delivery
Drone, parcelocopter is an unmanned aerial vehicle having
capabilities of transporting packages of medicines, food or other goods
permitted by the law of land
We
will look at a few examples of firms engaging drones, UAVs for delivery &
commercial purpose
Maersk Group & Maersk tankers has been using Drones for deliveries of
small parcels from shore to vessel and for inspections.
Parcelocopter: DHL Parcel had already made autonomous delivery
flights that were authorised in Europe. DHL Parcel will soon launch a
unique pilot project on the North Sea island of Juist:. DHL is
working with its R&D partners, the Institute of Flight System Dynamics at
RWTH Aachen University and Microdrones GmbH, DHL Parcel has completed a
comprehensive consultation and approval process led by Lower Saxony's Ministry
for Economics, Labor and Transport.
Amazon
Prime Air : Amazon has designed a delivery system
with help of UAVs / drones to get packages with 30 minutes .
Very similar projects are being
undertaken by Google X – Project wing to develop UAV capable of delivering
products sold via e- channel
In Food industry - Domicopter: A franchisee for Dominos Pizza had
tested a remote controlled drone for delivering pizzas in United Kingdom with
assistance and efforts from UK based drone specialist Aerosight.
Medical
Drones : Let’s Fly Wisely program had been approved by : FAA to use drones
(developed by Sydney based partner Flirtey) for delivery of medicines to a
rural medical clinic (in Virginia state).
Drones for filming: Drones are completely transforming TV,
documentary and movie productions. Aerosight based in U.K has been designing ,
developing and flying drones for the past 17 years. They have been commissioned
by Sultanate of Oman and Nat Geo to film a clipper – 100 km off the
coast.
Drones can
also get down to ground level, with smaller shadows and less air
disturbance. “No other filming method can start a sequence inside a
building and end up at 400ft altitude in one uncut shot,” says Ben Sheppard,
managing director of Spider Aerial Filming. Drones are being used in China by e commerce firm Alibaba & for express parcel service in South Korea
Drones
in India : Drones have been banned in India since
October 2014, regardless of their use. India is currently in the process of
creating extensive regulations covering the use of drones in India. Until
regulations are created, civil operation of drones will require approval from
the Air navigation service provider, defense, ministry of home affairs, and
other concerned security agencies within India.
Issues
& challenges with drones:
Drones
have been used for smuggling drugs and recreational drones have been dropping
contraband over prison walls in certain states in USA.
FAA is
already moving with its regulatory bill to keep delivery drones grounded owing
to safety and privacy risks.
To summarise .. Drones are inventions that can
revolutionise aid and relief operations, merchandise delivery mechanisms for
food and express parcels …. ONLY if the drone technology is in the right hands
who have required authorizations from the government (…very much like nuclear
energy!)
Request
you to please share your views or any developments or innovations in this field
in comments!
References
The author is a
Shipping & logistics professional and can be reached on
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