Ups like Amazon. The US shipping giant follows the path traced by the group led by Jeff Bezos: drones are the future of deliveries. An idea that Amazon has been working on for years, so much so that it made it the protagonist of its commercial that aired last month during the Superbowl.
UPS, on the other hand, today announced the successful test of a drone which, launched from the top of a company van, autonomously delivers a package to a home and returns to the vehicle, while the courier continues along the route to carry out another delivery. The test was conducted Monday in Tampa, Florida, in partnership with Workhorse Group, a developer of battery-electric drones and trucks based in Ohio.
“This test differs from anything we have done with drones so far. It carries implications for future deliveries, particularly in rural locations where our vans often have to travel miles to make a single delivery,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability.
“Imagine – continued Wallace – a triangular delivery route with stops located miles away from the road. Sending a drone from a van to make just one of these deliveries can result in a reduction in costly mileage. It is a big step in the direction of strengthening the efficiency of our network and reducing emissions”.
The advantages, for the company, are soon said: the reduction of even a single kilometer per driver (there are about 102 UPS couriers) per day, over the course of a year, could lead to savings of up to 50 million dollars for the delivery company.
“Drivers are the face of our company and that's not going to change,” Wallace said. “What we are interested in is the potential drones can help drivers at various points in their journeys, saving them time and meeting the growing customer service needs resulting from the growth of e-commerce.” . The drone, developed by Workhorse, has a flight time of 30 minutes (but recharges when docked to the delivery truck), and can carry a package weighing up to 4,5kg.
“It's great to see this technology applied in such a practical way,” said Stephen Burns, founder and CEO of Workhorse. “The drone is completely autonomous. Does not require a pilot. Therefore, while the drone is in flight, the driver is free to make other deliveries”.
For Ups, therefore, a decisive step forward in a technology that could revolutionize the delivery system as we know it. A path, as mentioned, also followed decisively by Amazon, which recently patented a drone delivery system which saves the time and energy necessary for the aircraft to land: release the goods from above, secured by the use of a parachute.
For example, if the wind sends the goods off course, risking ending them on a balcony or against a tree, the drone sends a radio message to the package, giving it the command to use the parachute, the flap or compressed air in order to to land at the exact spot that was scheduled for delivery.
A few months ago, however, is the news that The French Post Office has begun testing a drone delivery service. Le Groupe La Poste, through its subsidiary DPGgroup, is the first national mail service to make a delivery of this kind. The trial was approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. As for the Italian Post Office, beyond some episodic experimentation, it does not seem to be moving much on the drone front.
