Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones have become popular in the last decade largely due to the widespread adoption of consumer drones. Several industries and sectors have announced their own “drone programs” identifying diverse areas of applications. UAVs come in varying shapes and sizes and widely differ in their capabilities. Some of the broad areas where UAVs have found their use are – crop inspection, mapping of mines, aerial inspection of real estate properties, package delivery, fleet inspection, and warehouse inventory management. This article will focus on the use of smaller drones in the transport and logistics sector. Specifically, electrical multi-copters (characterized by vertical take-off and landing) appear to be the most promising for the logistics industry.

Proliferation of drone start-ups

The number of start-ups offering drones and related services have grown exponentially in the past few years. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed airworthiness criteria for type certification of delivery drones with an intent to initialize commercial operations in November 2020. This was done for 10 different Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).

• 3D Robotics 3DR-GS (using Yuneec’s H520-G airframe)
• Airobotics OPTIMUS 1-EX
• Amazon MK27
• Flirtey F4.5
• Flytrex FTX-M600P (using DJI’s M600 airframe)
• Matternet M2
• Percepto System 2.4
• Telegrid DE2020
• Wingcopter Model 198
• Zipline Zips

Adoption of drones in transport and logistics industries

The transport and logistics industries have started investing heavily in drone technology. They are now partnering with start-ups offering services across the drone ecosystem while developing in-house capabilities core to their operations.

Major industry players have already started to offer drone services after obtaining regulatory waivers. Some of the big names include DPDHL, UPS Flight Forward, Amazon Prime Air, Walmart (in partnership with Zipline) and Alphabet’s Wing.

The adoption of drones presents significant advantages –

• Significant reduction in operating costs due to automation
• Increased personnel safety and efficiency of operations
• Improvement in carbon footprint owing to decreased energy consumption
• Enhanced data driven insights and decision making

Possible uses of drones in transport and logistics

Drones can be used in a wide range of operational areas in the transport and logistics sectors apart from their existing use for delivering goods and packages.

Some of these include –

Inventory management & audit

Drones can be used for automation of inventory management by keeping a count of pallets and scanning barcodes in different warehouse layouts. Scanning can be done at frequent intervals to gain a more granular and dynamic view of inventory stock. Drones can also be used to capture aerial footage and count inventory stored on the ground in bulk bays.

Security surveillance

Factories and warehouses typically occupy very large land areas. Drones can significantly reduce security surveillance costs by providing a wider bird’s eye view and acting as a deterrent against parties with malicious intent.

Fleet inspection

Drones can be effective in fleet inspection and tracking of loading/unloading activities. Shorter inspection times and a real time view of vehicle location will reduce idle fleet time.

Incidence mapping

Many parts of logistics and transport operations involve a high degree of risk to the employees present on site. In case of an accident, drones can give a quick 360-degree view of the site helping the quick response teams in their actions with an increased level of safety.

Shipping industry

The average size of a container ship has increased over the years. Drones can assist cargo ships in vessel and cargo inspection activities. Drones can also be used in accurate local weather assessment and incidence mapping where the affected area may span a large area due to ocean currents.

Factors affecting adoption of drones

Regulatory environment

Drone regulations differ across countries and are currently undergoing rapid changes to accommodate the usage of drones for commercial and civil purposes. Since 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration in the USA has granted waivers to select drone companies based on an “operations first” approach to operate, gaining insights to shape further regulations. Drone operators or pilots typically must go through a certification program to be eligible for flying a drone. Drones are categorized into different categories based on several factors like their weight, cargo capacity, distance capability, line of sight status, elevation, location of flight (rural/urban/near airport) etc. The regulation landscape is currently undergoing rapid change owing to the advancement in UTM (Unmanned Traffic Management) landscape and insights from current operations.

Congestion of airspace

If adoption of drones becomes widespread in the logistics and transport sector, the integration of airspace with other airspace users such as airplanes, helicopters and other flying systems will become essential. The airspace is already crowded in many major cities and a single out of control drone will pose a serious risk to an aircraft.

Public concern

There is a general fear and concern among the public due to privacy and safety reasons. Drones use cameras along with other sensors for navigation which can be misused for surveillance. Drone manufacturers can limit the capability of cameras and practice privacy-oriented operations by not storing privacy infringing data. Privacy and safety concerns can be addressed by ensuring operating and drone design standards and technological advancements such as UTM development.

The usage of drones in the civil and commercial domains has seen significant interest in the last decade with increasing investments and consumer interest. The main factors driving drone adoption primarily include reduction in operating costs, improvement in accessibility (e.g., rural areas, unreachable places in facilities), reduction in GHG emissions, and improvement in personnel safety. This has expedited upgradation of the regulatory environment to facilitate commercial drone operations at scale. The delivery sector has by far seen the largest investments and pilot operations mainly in food delivery and medical supplies. Some of the largest companies in logistics, retail and e-commerce have partnered with drone start-ups for shaping future offerings and developing their own drone programs.

It is widely anticipated that the adoption of drones will increase exponentially in the coming decade once the regulatory framework is set, the technological hurdles are cleared, and the equipment costs reduce with progressive adoption.  

Anish Hedaoo

Anish Hedaoo, Presales Consultant - Travel, Transportation, Logistics & Hospitality, Digital Operations & Platforms

Anish has experience in BPO pre-sales, crafting client-centric solutions addressing the rapidly evolving business and technological landscape. He is a Computer Engineer with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore.