AsiaIndustrial NetNews: With the rapid rise of the e-commerce industry, the express delivery industry is also closely driven by the industry chain and has entered an unprecedented development trend. The traditional express delivery industry consumes a lot of material and human resources, and therefore a new field of drone delivery has been derived. UAV logistics is still in its infancy, and industry standards need to be developed urgently.
Walmart has also launched in-store drone delivery, a patent-approved delivery method that uses drones to deliver goods to customers in supermarkets. Two years ago, SF Express cooperated with a drone research and development company to promote the drone logistics business in mountainous areas, remote villages and other areas with a flight density of 500 flights per day in the Pearl River Delta region; last year, JD.com also used unmanned aerial vehicles in Suqian, Jiangsu. In addition, the convenience store chain 7-Eleven also cooperated with drone companies to use drones to deliver goods to customers for the first time in the United States; Google also launched a drone delivery service for college campuses ; and in March of this year, Amazon completed its first drone package delivery.
It is not difficult to see that many logistics companies and e-commerce giants believe that the field of drone logistics has great market prospects, so they have made arrangements early. However, the current drone logistics industry is just in its infancy, and the service of enterprises testing the water is suspected of taking advantage of the opportunity to market. Many e-commerce companies expect to use drone delivery to improve user experience and even expand the scope of delivery. As a result, many areas with limited human resources can also use drone delivery, which is more convenient and saves money. However, there are still many problems to be solved in the development of this field.
Precise location and avoidance
At present, drone delivery cannot achieve precise positioning, and perhaps your express delivery may have been delivered to a neighbor’s house. Commercial drones have the function of communicating with each other, but it cannot guarantee that all drones can accurately avoid drones and aerial objects. The construction of sensors, GPS and 3D maps is very important.
The size of the drone, the weight of the cargo, and the battery life
If a customer only buys a pen, is it worth using a drone for delivery, the cost of such delivery often goes beyond the goods themselves. There are also some goods that are heavy, so there are higher requirements for the carrying capacity of the UAV. The larger the carrying capacity of the UAV, the more electricity is consumed. Since the size of the UAV has certain limitations, the battery life has high requirements.
Lack of industry standards
At present, there is no clear standard in the UAV logistics industry, and commercial UAVs flying at low altitudes have certain risks. Although many enterprises at home and abroad are trying this field, but many detailed problems have not been solved. This small aircraft also needs clear industry standard constraints. UAV standards, UAV logistics operation standards, government airspace control and industry supervision all need clear implementation standards. Previously, the Civil Aviation Administration had stated that it would carry out pilot work in East China, Northwest China, and Xinjiang, and establishing and improving the low-altitude aerial flight network is the future goal of the UAV logistics industry.
