UPS has announced plans for deliveries via drones, but unlike Amazon’s drone delivery schtick, it’s not offloading them from a distant outpost or even a blimp: It’s integrating them intro delivery trucks, perched atop the vehicle, prepared to launch at various points within a route.
The Georgia-based package delivery company ran the initial drone delivery service tests last week in a small town outside Tampa, Florida, claiming to have successfully launched a drone from the top of a UPS delivery truck, which then delivered the package autonomously to its destination, and then finally returned to the truck at a different location.
At present, the Federal Aviation Administration still renders it illegal to operate drones beyond the operator’s line of sight, as noted by Recode. Because of this, UPS probably had staff manning the flight of the drones, making sure they functioned correctly.
Employing a drone-assisted delivery service, even at a relatively small scale such as what UPS has demonstrated, could save the company $50 million per year, assuming at least a kilometre is shaved off on trips taken by the company’s 66,000 drivers daily.
What’s more, delivery services can be more expensive in rural areas, where drivers typically incur more kilometres between destinations to deliver packages, because of the sparse population in each of them. Delivery companies, such as Amazon, UPS, and others, are trying to cut the costs of last-mile trips with the help of drones.
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