UPS is latest shipper to test rural delivery by drone
Both the drone industry and federal regulators are years away from actual legal drone deliveries in the United States.
But that’s not stopping companies from testing possibilities.
UPS was the latest to try something new when it tested a truck-launched drone delivery system for rural areas Monday, in Lithia, Florida.
UPS also plans to begin accepting and delivering U.S. packages by ground on Saturdays in certain large markets. The move will allow some customers to ship packages on Saturday for delivery Monday. Memphis-based FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service offer similar services.
The drone-equipped vans would only be used on rural routes, said Mark Wallace, UPS’ senior vice president for global engineering and sustainability.
Imagine a triangular delivery route where the stops are miles apart by road, he said.
The van-top drone would allow a UPS driver to make one delivery at the lower-left of the triangle, after launching a drone that would autonomously fly and deliver to the top of the triangle.
“While the drone is making its delivery, the driver would continue to the next stop, make another delivery by hand, and the drone would then rendezvous and recharge on top of the UPS package car,” he said.
This week’s test “has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery,” Wallace said.
UPS’ aim isn’t to replace drivers but to make them more efficient by allowing one driver to more quickly and efficiently deliver to several homes near one another, he said.
The drones come from the Workhorse Group, an Ohio-based electric truck and drone developer. Workhorse built both the drone and the electric UPS package car used in the test. The drone tested was an octocopter that is fully integrated with the Workhorse line of electric/hybrid delivery trucks.
“The drone is fully autonomous. It doesn’t require a pilot. So the delivery driver is free to make other deliveries while the drone is away,” said Stephen Burns, Workhorse chief executive.
UPS estimates that reducing the distance its trucks drive by just 1 mile per driver per day over one year could save the company up to $50 million. Rural delivery routes are the most expensive to serve, due to the time and vehicle expenses required to complete each delivery.
The Sandy Springs, Georgia-based rival of FedEx operates a 430,000square-foot package distribution center in Memphis, where it employs about 1,300 workers.
This isn’t UPS’ first public drone test. In September it delivered over open water to an island off Beverly, Massachusetts.
The industry needs more development of “sense and avoid technology” and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) still needs “to write the rules that will allow for the safe integration of commercial drones into the national airspace,” Wallace said.