Drones were first considered for delivery use when a US startup promised to use them to deliver tacos! It’s been a number of years since then and regulations have gradually shifted towards allowing the use of commercial drones by organisations around the world.
One start up, Flirtey, is using Australia’s fully automated commercial zones to lead the way in the use of drones or UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in deliveries. Matthew Sweeney, a university of Sydney student, has teemed up with Ahmed Haider, the CEO of Zookal – an online textbook store – deliver textbooks by UAV as early as 2014. They plan to take the technology to the US in 2015.
‘Australia is in a unique position to pioneer the global UAV industry because of regulations by CASA designed to encourage adoption of drone technology.’ Said Haider.
Typically, delivery of textbooks cost $8.90 and takes 2-3 days through the traditional road delivery system. With the use of a drone, Flirtey says the cost of delivery could drop as low as 80c for each one and take just 2-3 minutes. The drones deliver the textbook by hovering and lowering the parcel with a delivery mechanism attached to a retractable chord.
There have been concerns about privacy issues in the commercial use of drones and for this reason the founders are working together with a not-for-profit to develop guidelines for the industry. Drones are automated through the use of GPS systems and come with built-in safety features such as slowly landing on the ground in the case of loss of signal and collision avoidance technology which assists the drone to avoid crashing into other flying objects like birds and stable, yet moving objects, like tree branches.
The two founders aim to launch the technology with the delivery of textbook as a type of test. They want to prove to the world that drone delivery is viable and should be considered for wider use in more desperate circumstances. Medical aid, clothes, shoes and yes, fast food, could all be delivered via drone, reducing environmental impact, cost and delivery wait times. In particular, drones ability to get supplies to areas affected by natural disasters such as fires or floods could be life-saving.
The impact of drone delivery for on line shopping could potentially be huge. Instead of waiting a few days for delivery of a product, it could arrive within a few minutes and perhaps even be tried on in the person’s home. Courier services and express post parcel delivery industries will be revolutionised as the cost of ‘across town’ delivery drops significantly along with the time taken to make it possible. Could a future be coming where a drone zipping above our heads carrying legal documents is a normal occurrence of every day life?
Who would have thought that we would see drones being used in a commercial, every-day circumstances so soon?
Live Chat 
Contact Us 
02 8073 4699
