By submitting this form, you are agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Drones, officially known as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are rapidly developing. Though today, they are still being tried and implemented by a few companies for logistics and transportation, it is predicted that within the forecasted period 2023 to 2030 they will gain immense popularity.
Listing a few applications where drone delivery will be able to revolutionize and solve the problem of delayed delivery are food delivery, supply of medicines and other medical equipment, parcel delivery and also providing surveillance at borders. Better inventory management and inventory tracking would be other uses.
In the fast moving world, there are a few factors which are driving the demand for drones :
The unmanned aerial vehicles are remotely piloted through servers to serve different roles in the commercial and defence sectors. These aerial vehicles are now increasingly used for border surveillance along with applications in surveying, monitoring and mapping, remote sensing as well as product delivery.
The growth of the drone logistics and transportation market is mainly because of the growing demand for drones in military and commercial applications. The European and Asia-Pacific region is estimated to be the major revenue-generating markets for logistic drones and aerial vehicles.
These unmanned aerial vehicles commonly known as drones are used as part of the modern logistics network to work in delivery operations and air systems.
The drone logistics system helps with time management as well as delivers parcels faster because of accurate location features programmed in the drones. They are used to delivering small packages with high efficiency quickly. These drones are used for the delivery of food, medical supplies, and parcel delivery which has increased significantly through the introduction of e-commerce.
One of the major reasons which are estimated to drive the growth of this market is the sustainability of the drone operation. Drones also save the cost spent on fuel as well as avoid traffic which helps in cost saving. They can cover longer distances in shorter periods which cuts costs per mile and reduces the carbon footprint.
Drone delivery technology has been proven to be highly convenient and cost-effective for last-mile deliveries. Countries such as Japan and China have been using this technology for quite some time with exceptional results. For instance, the Chinese companies JD.com and Alibaba have been using drones to deliver packages across the countries and in inaccessible rural regions since before the year 2017.
Though the adoption of drones seem to be a probable trend in the future, currently the manufacturers have to address the following issues to boost demand :
The market can be divided in the following segments based on the applications in a business :
Among the solutions mentioned, the shipping segment which makes the cost of delivery very economical is expected to have the highest growth rate in the forecasted period 2021-2026 due to high level of investments being made in this segment.
The sectors in which drones find application for logistical purposes are :
In the military division, there are tests being run to implement the usage of drones for providing supplies to the army during wars. The US Army is mostly keen on using drones (Joint Tactical Resupply vehicle) during warfare.
In the commercial sphere, the key players of e-commerce, namely Amazon and DHL are in the process of implementing drone deliveries. There have been numerous tie ups between technology companies and e-commerce companies to ensure faster adoption of drones. Large amounts of investments also indicate that the commercial sector will hold a major market share in the period 2021-2026.
The products can be classified as follows :
Among the three product types, freight drones are expected to hold the most prominent share during the period 2021-2026 as it is finding its application in both sectors commercial and military. Quick and customized delivery, low cost and market penetration in remote areas are the major attractive features of freight drones helping to boost demand.
Passenger drones are currently in the development stage by companies such as Uber, Airbus and Boeing. However they may gain popularity during the end of 2025.
The market can be divided as follows according to region :
In terms of market share, North America dominates the market and is expected to continue dominating the market during 2021-2026. The main countries in North America which are the USA and Canada have shown high adoption of drones for logistics.
In Canada, new measures are also being taken for ease of flying drones which will further boost demand, such as Transport Canada. During the forecasted period, the region which will record the highest growth is the Asia Pacific region due to high investments by companies from countries like India and China in this new technology.
To help logistics companies offer more affordable and environmentally responsible delivery services across the United States, Blueflite has announced the launch of a new drone-based solution. The announcement follows a rise in demand for cutting-edge technologies in the delivery and logistics industries.
Over the past few years, there has been a significant change in customer behaviour, with a preference for services that are more convenient, sustainable, and rely less on interpersonal interactions. Blueflite’s drones’ autonomous flight feature is intended to guarantee precise and secure delivery of items with no loss and no delay.
With its cutting-edge technology and creative drone designs, Blueflite is focused on the safety and security of deliveries. Regardless of the delivery sites, they are built securely and robustly to operate in difficult circumstances. It aims to make product distribution feasible and dependable even in remote areas.
Our drones’ durability and use make them the ideal logistics tool for resupplying forces, expanding expeditionary reach, and facilitating logistics at scale in both urban and rural places. Our drones can reliably operate in difficult conditions because to the four individually operated vector thrusters.
The drones made by Blueflite use VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing, technology, which eliminates the need for ground infrastructure. Independent runway settings, as well as more advanced manoeuvrability and control, are possible because to the AI-controlled design.
Neutral energy sources are made possible by the all-electric drivetrain. The development of Blueflite’s cloud infrastructure is another area of concentration in order to provide fleet-wide learning and electronic IT system integration with clients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating on some of the industries due to lockdowns across the world and restrictions on travel and halts in manufacturing activities. However, the pandemic has been beneficial to the e-commerce logistics market which has facilitated the production of drones. Drones have been adopted to deliver packages limiting physical contact among people which help in the social distancing norms.
The drones were also used during the pandemic to provide medical supplies and food packages to infected people quarantined at homes, this limited the physical contact and further spread of the virus.
Drones were also used to monitor the body temperature of pedestrians at various public places. The demand for drones during the pandemic significantly increased due to these factors which in turn contributed to the increase in the market of logistical drones.
However, the development of drones may suffer due to the semiconductor chip and electronic component shortage across the globe.
The electronic hardware which consists of chips and electronic components, communication modules as well as power electronic switches which undergo innovation and technological advancements are not kept in huge volumes by companies due to the disadvantage of them becoming obsolete. As a result of which the pandemic has caused a severe shortage of these devices as a consequence of the lockdowns and halt in manufacturing activities.
Wing has unveiled a new, adaptable network for drone logistics. Wing is attempting to transform its drones into gig network employees by integrating low-cost, modular pick-up stations and numerous charging hubs.
These activities will start to transition from pilot projects and demonstrations into ongoing business operations in the next 12 to 24 months, growing at the same rate as other delivery service providers.
Their new Autoloader, which can be put up in an ordinary parking space and makes it simple for anyone to load a box for drone pickup, is part of what makes their new adaptive system viable. They can resume work after the item has been loaded, therefore they do not need to be present during the actual loading.
With additional networks in Australia, Finland, and Ireland, they are currently only operational in two American cities: Dallas-Fort Worth and Christiansburg, Virginia. Major corporations like DoorDash and Walgreens are already partners with them.
The system will, however, only become more effective as the network expands. The capacity to handle journeys that make several deliveries increases as more charging hubs are built and as more drones connect to the network.
Once a trip was complete, a drone wouldn’t need to go home; instead, it might embark on another journey and then refuel at a hub that was closer to the destination of the subsequent delivery.
A2Z Drone Delivery Introduced the Upgraded RDST Longtail, a Commercial Ready-to-Fly Delivery Drone. The RDST Longtail provides logistics operators and drone service providers with a ready-to-fly, off-the-shelf delivery UAV for last mile delivery thanks to its integrated drone delivery winch.
The RDST Longtail is the best delivery drone for local parcel or food deliveries, emergency medical transports, drone-born water sampling programmes, offshore logistics, search and rescue operations, open mines, solar farms, and more.
It can deliver or retrieve payloads up to 5 kg over a distance of 11 km. The RDST Longtail is remote ID compatible and has a factory-integrated remote ID beacon.
The RDST Longtail is the newest member of the A2Z Drone Delivery fleet and carries on the business’s commitment to addressing consumer protection issues in the context of expanding residential drone deliveries.
The solutions offered by A2Z Drone Delivery minimise privacy concerns associated with low-flying drones and reduce invasive rotor noise by making deliveries from a height where receivers are protected from spinning UAV propellers.
In addition to keeping the UAV high over buildings, power wires, and trees, dropping payloads from above allows for missions needing visual line of sight to have longer sight distances. The most requested enhancement from consumers has been the rainproofing included into the updated RDST Longtail Premium edition.
They have upgraded the off-the-shelf RDST platform by streamlining the overall design and updating the propulsion system.
Several collaborations are taking place between e-commerce and delivery players and drone delivery providers which can be beneficial for all stakeholders in this market. Currently, the market can be defined as slightly fragmented.
Drone Delivery Canada announced a definitive partnership agreement with Sea Incorporation and DSV Air, to deliver goods on predetermined routes across the company’s 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse complex in Milton, Ontario. The service will be used as a depot-to-depot solution.
Several e-commerce companies have started acquiring small drone manufacturing companies or have started to sign strategic partnerships. For instance, Zomato, which is a food delivery company based in India, announced the acquisition of a drone delivery startup named TechEagle Innovations to enable food delivery by drones across the country.
The German postal services giant DHL Express partnered with a Chinese drone manufacturer EHang, they are set to launch last-mile drone delivery systems in the urban areas of China for DHL.
The company UPS Flight Forward which is a subsidiary of UPS announced the delivery of prescription medicines using drones from a CVS pharmacy to the Villages in Florida, which is the largest US retirement community with 135,000 residents. The company will use Matternet’s M2 drone system.
Drone Delivery Canada corporation announced a sales collaboration agreement with Nexeya Canada to jointly develop military applications for the company’s drone solution.
The company also announced an agreement with Edmonton International Airport and two courier companies to deploy delivery drones out of the airport. The remotely piloted vehicles will deliver packages of up to 4.54 kg from the airport to the landing zone in Nisku.
The company Zipline has completed 203,248 commercial deliveries with 1,342,098 products delivered over 14,261,030 miles with 25 million serviceable customers. The company has also raised $250 million in funding to help with the acceleration of the development of the new model for instant logistics.
The investment round was led by new investors such as Fidelity Intercorp, Emerging Capital Partners and Reinvent Capital. The company has partnered with Pfizer to develop an end-to-end COVID-19 vaccine delivery solution to enable rapid and equitable access to vaccines from all manufacturers in countries where Zipline operates.
The company has partnered with Toyota Tsusho in Japan to transform the healthcare supply chain of the country. The partnership will enable the delivery of a range of critical medical and pharmaceutical supplies to inaccessible remote areas with the opportunity to advance into other sectors in the future.
The company has also partnered with Walmart to launch a first of its kind drone delivery operation in the US. The new service will start with the delivery of select healthcare and wellness products with the potential to expand to general merchandise.
The company Metternet has announced the world’s first city-wide drone delivery network in Abu Dhabi with the country’s Department of Health to provide city-wide medical delivery by air.
The company has also launched operations in Berlin to be the first hub for the urban BVLOS medical drone delivery network in the largest city of the European Union.
The company has also announced a partnership with Japan Airlines to develop an urban drone logistics platform to be deployed in Tokyo and utilised to access drone delivery opportunities in Japan.
Volocopter, which is a subsidiary of China’s innovation-driven group, Geely technology group, announced their joint venture to introduce unmanned aerial vehicles in China.
The company will operate under Volocopter technology with an agreement to purchase 150 of the company’s aircraft. The company has announced a partnership with Los Angeles based Urban Movement Labs to explore the application of the company’s UAM solutions in the area.
In the future, delivery companies may be in a position to acquire drone delivery providers which would give them more control over the supply chain and a better standing in the market.
