Pandemic boosts commercial drone deliveries

At the end of 2019, we wrote about advances in commercial deliveries with drones. Among the events, we had the first commercial delivery of products at home (in a partnership between FedEx, Walgreens pharmacy chain, and Wing, from Alphabet), concession to UPS of a license to operate fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (granted by the FAA – Federal Aviation Administration of the United States), and the beginning of the partnership between UPS and CVS Pharmacy (another giant in the American pharmaceutical retail sector) for the delivery of prescription drugs directly to customers.

This last partnership had its first deliveries completed in November 2019, and now driven by reality of the pandemic we live, the companies are making deliveries to The Villages, the largest retirement community in the US with nearly 135.000 residents in Florida. The drones used are from Matternet, designed specifically for transporting medical supplies, and have already delivered to a hospital in North Carolina.

Video: Partnership between CVS and UPS tests drone drug delivery in US region

In addition to CVS, Novant Health, in the health sector, announced at the end of May the distribution of personal protective equipment and critical supplies for medical teams on the front lines, also in North Carolina. The drones used in this operation are from Zipline, a Californian startup that pioneered the delivery of medical supplies to rural communities in Africa. Zipline's operation there has made 36 trips to 1,5 hospitals in Rwanda and Ghana since 2016, and now also dedicates efforts in the fight against Covid-19.

Novant's operation with Zipline became possible since, in mid-April, the FAA began to allow the use of drones in efforts to combat Covid-19 (exemption from Part 107 regulation), as long as they fall within the rules and existing emergency procedures. Zipline says it intends to expand the partnership, starting from an operation that today is of an emergency nature, for commercial deliveries in the next 2 years.

In the town of Christiansburg, Virginia, Wing has been delivering essential items like medicine, canned goods, toilet paper and pasta. The Alphabet subsidiary is also working in partnership with local businesses that have been forced to close their doors because of the coronavirus. These include Mockingbird Café, which delivers sweets and confectionery, and Burgh Coffee, which delivers cold drinks. Around the world, the company also has commercial operations in Australia and Finland. The company says it completed more than 2020 deliveries in a two-week period in May XNUMX.

In 2013, Jeff Bezos was saying that Amazon would deliver with drones in five years, but we haven't seen that happen. There are technical hurdles to overcome, but strict regulation has proved to be the main challenge over the years. In the US, the FAA determines that drones must remain in the line of sight of the person piloting the device. In order not to be tied to this restriction, companies that want to launch delivery services need to obtain Part 135 certification. Wing and UPS were the first to obtain it, but at different levels (the UPS license is the most robust, and does not impose a limit on the size of the operation), and many believe that Amazon will achieve certification in 2020.

In Brazil, we saw some companies carry out tests in the last year, such as iFood and B2W. Both worked in partnership with the manufacturer SMX Systems/Speedbird Aero, which uses national technology, and already carried out tests in 2018. Drugstore Venancio also carried out tests in 2019 (with the startup My View), in Petrópolis, and, recently, in May , a Japanese food restaurant in Belo Horizonte also tested delivery. The use of drones here is regulated by ANAC (National Civil Aviation Agency), as well as the Air Space Control Department (Decea), of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel).

ANAC informs that “the drone delivery service, although very promising in the near future, has not yet become a reality in Brazil, given the great technical difficulty of safely inserting these aircraft in the airspace. Currently, there are studies conducted by ANAC, DECEA and an applicant for demonstrations of this capability. However, today there is no company (restaurant or any branch of activity) that has been authorized by ANAC to carry out the delivery service”.

In addition to regulatory hurdles, there are relevant privacy issues. However, at the moment we are living, the use of drones to deliver medical and essential items, especially for a portion of the population most vulnerable to the coronavirus, and for those who are on the front line in hospitals, opens a window of opportunity to change the way people's perception. In the recent past, many of us saw this type of delivery as a possible but still distant reality. It is clear that there are still many challenges to be overcome in the sector, however, it is certain that the new reality brought about by Covid-19 has played a catalytic role, helping to accelerate this entire process.

References:

- Financial Times – US drone delivery service takes flight to battle coronavirus
- Novant Health – Nation's First Emergency Drone Operation for Hospital's Pandemic Response Launches
- Forbes – Flying Robots Might Soon Deliver Your Morning Coffee
- Federal Aviation Administration – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
- Supply Chain Dive – What is Part 135 and what does it mean for drone delivery?
- O Tempo – Restaurant in BH tests drone food delivery during the pandemic