The skies are awash with drones. First they were fun toys, then they became a helpful tool for the military and now businesses are starting to look at how they can use them too. Companies such as Amazon and Google have already started testing drones and it may not be long before we start receiving our shopping by air!
The drones are coming.
Drones aren’t just for taking beautiful photos of your home, or wedding anymore. In fact, drones are already doing all kinds of things:
- Delivering packages and food
- Search and rescue missions
- Surveillance (especially in the military)
- Delivery of medicines to remote areas
Who is going to use them?
If you’re thinking, “I want to be the first one on my block to get a package delivered by drone!”, keep in mind that this is probably not going to happen. Amazon and UPS have been testing the use of drones for years, and they are already using them in other countries—but it will likely still be a while before their customers see anything like that in their hometowns.
In fact, if you look at the current state of technology and regulations surrounding drone delivery in the US, you might decide that your neighbors will never get their packages from an Amazon quadcopter. That was certainly my conclusion when I started researching this article!
What can they deliver?
The answer to this question is: pretty much anything that can fit in a box. Drones have the ability to transport goods of all shapes and sizes, from small items like socks and jewelry to large items like furniture pieces or even refrigerators. If you’ve ever thought about ordering something from Amazon but were dissuaded by the hefty shipping fees, drones could be your solution!
Drones are also able to deliver heavy objects – think tires for your car – as well as fragile ones like glassware or porcelain figurines. They’re also great at delivering dangerous things like medicine or weapons (for those who have such needs), perishable products like food and flowers (for those who enjoy living on the edge), and hazardous materials such as cleaning supplies (if you’re into some good old-fashioned chemical warfare).
And how?
There are many different ways to use drone technology in delivery. And each of those ways has a number of sub-options, too.
To start with, the size and weight of your package can affect which type of drone is best for your needs. Smaller packages like books or shoes will likely fit into a lightweight quadcopter (the kind that looks like four helicopter blades on a stick), while larger loads—like furniture—would be better suited to transport via something more heavy duty like an octocopter (which has eight propellers). If you’re shopping at Walmart and just need some groceries, then maybe you don’t need anything bigger than one of those tiny microdrones that look like toys!
Another important factor is distance. If your delivery location is within walking distance from where it was ordered then traditional human-powered methods might still work best for you; but if it will take longer than an hour or two for the goods to get from point A to point B then drones may prove more efficient and convenient.
What are the advantages?
The advantages of drone delivery are numerous, and they’re not all about the speed.
- Speed: This one is obvious, but it’s worth mentioning that drones have a lot of potential to get you your goods faster than traditional methods. This can be a big benefit for businesses with perishable inventory, like restaurants or grocery stores.
- Safety: Another obvious point here—drones don’t have to share roads with other vehicles, so they’re less likely to hit someone on the road or run into bad weather conditions. They also don’t require parking lots, which means there won’t be any accidents on your way to work! (Sorry about that.)
- Reduced carbon footprint: By reducing both traffic congestion and fuel consumption, drones may help us reduce our carbon footprint as well as reduce costs associated with shipping items from place to place via ground transportation vehicles such as trucks or trains.
So when will they be on our rooftops?
If you want to know when drone deliveries will be a reality, ask yourself these questions: When will there be enough money in it for the companies that make drones? When will there be enough demand for the businesses that would use them? And when will people be willing to accept them as part of their everyday lives, not just as a novelty item or a sci-fi trope?
The answers are: soon, but not yet; soon, but not yet; and maybe never.
Let’s start with the first question: how long before we’ll see drones getting packages delivered on our doorsteps? That depends on how quickly companies can get their hands on the right kind of technology—which is available now—and then figure out how best to integrate it into their logistics operations. “There is no doubt that drones are going to play an important role in delivery services,” says Andreas Muhlbauer from Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Innovation Hub in Heilbronn, Germany. “Their potential is enormous.”
The sky’s not the limit!
You may not be flying drones in the sky just yet, but if you’re a regular Amazon user, or have seen a drone delivering packages in other countries, then you know that this is not some far-off vision of what our future might look like. Drones are already being used by certain businesses in the United States and worldwide—and it’s only going to get bigger from here.
There are many advantages associated with using drones for delivery: they don’t need roads or railroads; they can easily travel long distances; they won’t get stuck in traffic jams; if something goes wrong with one drone during flight, there are plenty of other options at hand (you could use another drone). Of course there are also obstacles that need to be overcome before we see them on every street corner: regulations are still being created so as not to interfere with privacy rights; safety concerns must be addressed given how powerful these aircrafts are becoming over time (they could potentially cause accidents if flown too close together); those same regulations must also ensure that personal information stored on smartphones remains secure because once data leaves your device it becomes susceptible
Conclusion
We hope this post has given you a better understanding of the reality of drone delivery, and an idea of how it could impact your life in the near future. It’s an exciting new frontier that has so much promise to make our lives easier, and we’re excited to watch it unfold. But for all its advantages, we should also try not to let drone delivery distract us from more pressing issues—such as the lack of fresh produce in food deserts, or the fact that 40 percent of what most people buy is thrown away. We should always remember that humans are still very much at the center of this equation. When we do get our packages delivered by drones (if ever), they will be bringing us food made by other humans, delivered by another human being flying a machine designed and built by human hands. And perhaps most importantly? They won’t be replacing any jobs; they will just be making them a whole lot easier!