Drone Deliveries Are No Longer Pie In The Sky – http://dron.i.ng

Imagine ordering a pizza or toothpaste, and instead of it
arriving in under an hour via moped or sedan (the pizza), or two
days later via courier, they arrive in under 15 minutes, from the
sky.? How long until that happens? In some places it already
is.

For many of us, the idea of a swarm of drones buzzing overhead,
delivering everything from sushi to groceries to phone cases still
seems like pie in the sky. Indeed, the prospect of packages
dropping on our heads or errant drones smashing into our homes,
cars, or even commercial jets, are the reasons why strict
regulations continue to remain in place throughout the world,
holding back, to some extent, the burgeoning drone delivery
industry (it’s still growing: in the U.S. alone from a $40 million
industry in 2012 to $1 billion in 2017)

But that probably won’t last long. That’s because consumers have
a swiftly growing appetite for faster and faster delivery – after
all, it only takes the touch of a button to order an item, why
shouldn’t delivery be equally instantaneous? While we customers
crave almost instant deliveries, retailers are still bound by huge
logistical costs and the enormous challenges of last mile delivery,
including faraway fulfillment centers, prohibitive costs and
traffic snarls. That’s why e-retailers are having such a tough time
figuring out how to adapt to this on-demand revolution. Drone
delivery then seems a faster, more environmentally friendly,
cheaper and efficient future.

But will drone delivery solutions really fly?

Deutsche Post/DHL is testing deliveries of medicine from a
pharmacy in Bonn. (Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images)

The good news is that over the past several years, there has
been a salient shift in regulatory attitudes towards drone delivery
as an inevitability which needs to be facilitated rather than a
dangerous, far-fetched idea which regulation should keep
permanently grounded.

In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is launching
its UAS Integration Pilot Program which invites governmental bodies
in select cities to partner with private sector entities to jointly
accelerate safe Unmanned Aerial Systems. The program aims to
provide comprehensive solutions for a wide array of issues,
including advanced Universal Traffic Management, security
procedures, anti-hacking protection, medical supply deliveries, as
well as general commercial use.

Why are U.S. regulators finally getting on board? Aside from
recognizing drones’ environmental benefits, it may just be that
they don’t want to be left behind. My company’s recently launched
autonomous on-demand drone delivery system in Reykjavik, Iceland,
for example, may have broken the ice for other countries interested
in adopting similar services. Projects in African countries such as
Tanzania and Rwanda have demonstrated the life-saving benefits when
drones deliver vital medicines and blood supplies, encouraging
other countries to follow suit. The Chinese courier SF Holding says
it won a license to operate drones, opening up the possibility of
drone delivery in a huge market.

In the EU, countries such as Denmark, France and the Netherlands
are currently working on a U-Space for commercial drones – “the
European Commission’s vision for the safe, secure and efficient
handling of drone traffic and a key enabler for the growing drone
market to generate economic and societal benefits.” And the UK
recently introduced its own automated drone tracking system in a
bid to get its own program off the ground.

With on-demand delivery quickly becoming the norm rather than
the exception (see Target’s $550million acquisition of on-demand
delivery company Shipt), retailers are scrambling for airborne
solutions. Amazon, predictably, has a seemingly constant stream of
new patents, including ones for flying warehouses, with Walmart not
far behind. Alphabet is also flying high, testing its own drone
delivery program in Australia. Indeed, today’s advanced drone
systems can already navigate tricky urban cityscapes including
skyscrapers, utilizing advanced AI to communicate with fellow
drones as an extra precaution to avoid collisions, and the
technology continues to advance with leaps and bounds.

The public seems to be embracing it as well, with studies
demonstrating growing public acceptance for speedier drone
deliveries.

This is not to say challenges don’t exist. The technology still
needs to be improved to demonstrate to skeptical consumers and
regulators alike that UAVs represent a safer mode of transportation
than road delivery. Drone companies are also investing heavily in
cybersecurity to prevent hackers from turning innocent sushi
deliveries into.

Privacy issues must also be solved (e.g. how can we prevent
delivery drones from gathering information about your home from
above). But ultimately, the real challenge will be one of
perception, public acceptance of the inevitable fleets of drones
overhead. The biggest psychological barriers we have to overcome
are similar to the ones our society will have to accept before
autonomous, driverless cars take over our streets: autonomous
systems can have accidents, yet they can continue and improve,
while we can’t. Thus they’re the best option we have. Who’s to
blame for an accident? Which insurer should pay? I’m pretty sure
these are questions we’ll see more and more often, and solutions
will follow.

But with the clear advantages on-demand drone delivery presents
– almost instantaneous fulfillment at lower costs, less congested
roads, fewer accidents and cleaner skies to name just a few – don’t
be surprised if that pizza arrives via the friendly skies far
sooner than you might expect

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