Drones will take center stage in parcel delivery

As technology matures, regulation evolves, and business models emerge, i drones can become convenient for the parcel delivery, subtracting important market shares from traditional modes of transport. This is what emerges from a recent report by McKinseywhich underlines how today – even in the face of small numbers – the segment is growing rapidly.

The needs to be met

“Drone technology has the potential to address a variety of last mile consumer use cases, such as prepared food, ready-to-eat products and other small packages, as well as B2B needs, such as moving medical samples around laboratories,” they point out. the experts. As is generally the case with all technologies, as drones begin to spread purchase prices fall And the practicality of use is refined. Thus drones are a candidate to be competitive especially in regions with inadequate road infrastructure e in cases where it is not profitable to group deliveries.

Drones also have a green license on their side. Indeed they guarantee minimum CO2 emissionssignificantly lower even than those of electric cars and vans that make a single delivery.

The guidelines of the legislator are decisive

Currently, regulations in most countries and regions state that people can only use and monitor one drone at a time; an observer must simultaneously monitor the airspace in which the drone operates. As a result, labor accounts for up to 95% of the total cost of drone delivery, which McKinsey estimates at $13.50.

These costs are not yet competitive with electric cars and vans, or with internal combustion engine vans, but the scenario would change in the event of regulatory evolution, probably inevitable when the safety of drones becomes even higher than today. “If drone operators can eventually operate 20 drones simultaneously,” the study points out, “the cost to deliver a single package will drop to $1.5, $2 at most,” the analysis reads. Which adds that this level is in line with that of an electric car that delivers five parcels.

In this regard, it should be remembered that in recent months the European rules on vertiports, i.e. urban air mobility infrastructures designed to make everything that flies, such as drones and air taxis, land vertically and safely. L’Easa (European Aviation Safety Agency) has published the first guide in the world for the design of vertiports throughout Europe, which indicates to urban planners, local administrators and industry the most appropriate lines of behavior to follow in order to design a vertiport which then can work safely.