Use of Drones in the World of Logistics

What are Drones?

It is an unmanned areal vehicle that that can be used for surveillance, delivering goods, traffic monitoring anda many other reasons.

Growth in the drone industry

Earlier, drones were only available to military organizations. Apart from military purposes they were also used for agricultural work. It was in 2015 that drone industry took a major step by making its way in the business world and since then the market is booming.

Benefits of Drones in Logistics Industry

Transport drones are rapidly becoming a prevalent part of the modern logistics industry. By using drones to deliver goods, even the most far-flung, hard to reach places in remote and rural areas become instantly accessible and connected. Further, the cost of deliveries in some countries’ rural areas estimated to be five times higher than that of urban areas. By using drones at scale, this gap can be reduced. The use of drones could drastically decrease labor costs and has been hyped as a potential disruptor to the parcel delivery industry.

Many companies such as Amazon and Matternet are testing these drone deliveries at various levels.

Amazon

They will be offering service know as Amazon Air Prime that will deliver packages up to five pounds under thirty minutes. They have development centers in USA, Australia, UK, France and Israel and they are also testing vehicle at multiple international locations.

Matternet

It is a logistics company that aims to make people access goods as frictionless and universal as access to information. Their products will enable to transport goods on demand at a fraction of time and cost. They have also partnered Mercedes Benz. They are more concentrated on transporting medical items between healthcare and facilities. They also conducted trial in Haiti by transporting medical items in a medical camp.

Difficulties faced using Drones in Logistics

There many difficulties faced when using drones in logistics.

Weight of Shipment

The weight of the shipment can’t be more than 3 or 4 kg to ensure the safety of the people and its proper functioning.

Financial Outlay

Although the use of drones reduces the shipment cost, but layout of drones and its software cost a lot!

Air Traffic

With the coming up of air drones, the air traffic is bound to increase in the years to come. Hence, strict guidelines and proper outlay should be made to avoid the crisis at the later stage.

Landing area

This is one of the major concerns as to where to land the drone at the customers house. If the person live in an apartment, how would he collect his package.

Future of Drones Logistics

To some people it seems like a very crazy idea, but I think it is giant leap for the logistics network. It can create an amazing impact. Just imagine one billion people being connected to physical goods in the same way mobile telecommunications had connected us. Development of drones could give us an advantage in battling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other epidemics. I feel that in the coming years it will become a new mode of transport.