Logistics companies are turning their attention to the possibility of using drones for contactless delivery, as social distancing guidelines are expected to be part of the “new norm” as the world continues to battle the coronavirus.

Companies like UPS, FedEx and DHL have already earlier tested the viability of operating drones to send health-related supplies, but the Covid-19 outbreak is pushing logistics firms to explore options to transport more items via drone with the way people interact and how businesses operate expected to change.

UPS said it participated in a test in Virginia in April to help determine how drones can support medical professionals and first responders against the coronavirus. In May, it launched a drone service to deliver prescription medicines from CVS Health pharmacies to the largest US retirement community, home to more than 135,000 residents in Florida.

“Drone transport offers a fast delivery option for medicines that are time-sensitive while supporting social-distancing efforts. Drone delivery options provide individuals with a convenient alternative to visiting a pharmacy. This program can also help prioritize the protection of our healthcare heroes,” Bala Ganesh, vice president, UPS Advanced Technology Group, told Asia Cargo News.

He noted that UPS Flight Forward — the UPS subsidiary focused on drone delivery — is exploring other ways it can use drones to help the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic with technology leaders citing autonomous drones as a potentially valuable solution.

“We think drone delivery service can support social-distancing efforts and faster, same-day delivery of time- or temperature-sensitive medicines,” Ganesh said, adding that UPS is actively working on incorporating other use cases ranging from medicine, test kits and other same-day supplies.

Disruptive technology to fight pandemic

Data analytics companyGlobalData said that in a world where lockdown measures and social distancing have become the new norm, drones are playing a key role in helping authorities and governments in different ways to contain the spread of the outbreak.

“With the traditional approaches failing to contain the spread of Covid-19, authorities and governments are looking at disruptive technologies such as drones to ensure social distancing, conduct temperature checks, monitor public gathering, spray disinfectants, deliver medicines along with surveillance and monitoring among others,” said Manish Dixit, principal disruptive tech analyst at GlobalData.

GlobalData’s Disruptor Database, which analyzes and showcases real-world examples of vital use cases across disruptive technologies, revealed how drones are increasingly becoming crucial to contain the Covid-19 spread in these unprecedented times.

“In a world ruled by social distancing, drones are stepping up the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak by minimizing human interactions and limiting cross-infection among frontline workers. The use of drones also lowers the cost of combating the disease as well as increases the effectiveness by being quicker, safer and a cost-effective solution in the ever-evolving complex environments,” Dixit added.

FedEx earlier partnered with Wing Aviation to test the future of residential drone delivery in Virginia. It also successfully completed the first home delivery in 2019 to see whether residential drone service could have a long-term future in the company.

Outlook for use of drone delivery

In Asia, DHL Express launched in March 2019 its first regular fully-automated and intelligent urban drone delivery service in Guangzhou, meant to address the last-mile delivery challenges in the urban areas of China.

The route covers a distance of approximately eight kilometres between the customer premises and the DHL service centre in Liaobu, Dongguan, in Guangdong Province.

“[Drone delivery] reduces one-way delivery time from 40 minutes to only eight minutes and can save costs of up to 80% per delivery, with reduced energy consumption and carbon footprint compared with road transportation,” DHL said then.

Meanwhile, UPS said the use of drone delivery is expected to pick up post-pandemic — although it will be initially dictated by customer need.

UPS is taking a “pragmatic and realistic approach” to evaluating drone delivery needs in various industries as it continues to “build a robust customer base and a network of technology partners to galvanize [its] leadership in drone delivery.”

“Drone delivery will play an increasingly important role in our network going forward to meet customer needs,” UPS’ Ganesh told Asia Cargo News.

He said that UPS Flight Forward, in particular, will expand “methodically and pragmatically” to US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration-approved use cases as it grows its operation.

“UPS Flight Forward is building a global drone service that will operate UAVs of different sizes to meet the specialized needs of our customers, and of our own business. Our team is building the broadest, most diverse set of drone delivery capabilities of any company in the world,” Ganesh said.

“We will transform both B2B and B2C on-demand, same-day delivery. We are building on our logistics and flight expertise and developing a team of the most experienced drone professionals. We intend to be the leader across all areas of drone delivery.”

By Charlee C. Delavin

Asia Cargo News | Hong Kong