Signal 3: ‘Highway in the skies’ — Drones for Parcel deliveries
The concept of airborne mail has been around for centuries with pigeons (post) inaugurating the flight. The advent of technology and drones, in recent times, has fashionably brought delivery service to the skies once again, with Airbus announcing plans to test urban and port drone delivery in Singapore. It includes a partnership with Wilhelmsen Ships to test-bed autonomous parcel delivery from shore-to-ship as well as delivering parcels to designated dropoff spots at the National University of Singapore.
Considerable, Commendable Impact
The successful outcome of the pilot trial beckons alteration in logistic patterns within multitudes of interconnected traffic flows all over the world. It also reaps promising benefits such as reduced manpower costs and increased productivity. Amazon alone raked an astonishing 5 billion shipments worldwide in 2017 and the ever-growing dominance of e-commerce exemplifies the magnitude of impact.
Potential Issues and Next Steps
Companies have turned to air spaces as an alternative solution in light of the numerous on-land problems. While this relatively untouched realm conveys hope, the competition for airspace amongst various entities will eventually lead to its own set of congestion problems. This much sought after space should be regulated, for example, by having specific paths (like flight paths) designated.
Sources
Source: Meyer, D. (2018 February 12). Airbus Shows Off Its New Automated Delivery Drone Service in Singapore. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/02/12/airbus-skyways-drone-deliveries-singapore/
Source: Edwin, L. (2018 June 7). Airbus to test urban and port drone delivery in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/Airbus-drone-Singapore-university-ship-delivery/525175/
