Drones to help Package Drivers look like Feeder Drivers

ROBO MOD

I'm a Robot
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  • UPS works with truck-launched drone-maker Workhorse Group in latest test
  • Test demonstrates potential efficiencies drones can provide on rural delivery routes
  • Unlike previous drone tests, UPS/Workhorse test incorporates drone delivery into day-to-day delivery operations

UPS (NYSE:UPS) announced today that it has successfully tested a drone that launches from the top of a UPS® package car, autonomously delivers a package to a home and then returns to the vehicle while the delivery driver continues along the route to make a separate delivery.

UPS conducted the test on Monday in Lithia, Fla. with Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS), an Ohio-based battery-electric truck and drone developer. Workhorse built the drone and the electric UPS package car used in the test.

“This test is different than anything we’ve done with drones so far. It has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability. “Imagine a triangular delivery route where the stops are miles apart by road. Sending a drone from a package car to make just one of those deliveries can reduce costly miles driven. This is a big step toward bolstering efficiency in our network and reducing our emissions at the same time.”

With ORION, UPS’s On-Road Integrated Optimization Navigation routing software, a reduction of just one mile per driver per day over one year can save UPS up to $50 million. UPS has about 66,000 delivery drivers on the road each day. Rural delivery routes are the most expensive to serve due to the time and vehicle expenses required to complete each delivery. In this test, the drone made one delivery while the driver continued down the road to make another. This is a possible role UPS envisions for drones in the future.

“Drivers are the face of our company, and that won’t change,” Wallace said. “What’s exciting is the potential for drones to aid drivers at various points along their routes, helping them save time and deliver on increasing customer service needs that stem from the growth of e-commerce.”

The drone used in Monday’s test was the Workhorse HorseFly™ UAV Delivery system. It is a high-efficiency, octocopter delivery drone that is fully integrated with Workhorse’s line of electric/hybrid delivery trucks. The drone docks on the roof of the delivery truck. A cage suspended beneath the drone, extends through a hatch into the truck. A UPS driver inside loads a package into the cage and presses a button on a touch screen, sending the drone on a preset autonomous route to an address. The battery-powered HorseFly drone recharges while it’s docked. It has a 30-minute flight time and can carry a package weighing up to 10 pounds.

For this test, Workhorse preset the route for the drone. But in the future, routes could be determined by UPS’s On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation (ORION), which is the company’s proprietary routing software.

“It’s wonderful to see this technology applied in such a practical way,” said Stephen Burns, Workhorse founder and CEO. “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.”

UPS has been testing automation and robotics technologies, including drones, for years. Last September, UPS staged a mock delivery of urgently needed medicine from Beverly, Mass. to an island three miles off the Atlantic coast. Additionally, UPS is using drones extensively for humanitarian relief, partnering with third-party organizations to deliver life-saving blood and vaccines to hard-to-reach locations in Rwanda. UPS also is utilizing drones to check inventory on high storage shelves in its warehouses.

Unlike all of the previous tests, the most recent UPS drone test shows how drones might assist in making non-urgent residential deliveries as part of the day-to-day operation.

Last year, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued small unmanned aircraft systems rules that allow for some commercial use of drones and paved the way for future expanded applications. UPS was one of 35 selected from a cross section of key stakeholders to serve on the FAA’s drone advisory committee. The committee will provide the FAA recommendations on key drone integration issues that will ultimately allow for safe and secure operations of drones within the National Air Space System.
 

ManInBrown

Well-Known Member
Can't wait till some kid playing in his yard gets his arms chopped off running up to the drone....
LOL. We can only hope that happens on day 1. How is the drone going to obtain signatures? If this happens I'm going to start to feel real uncomfortable DRing packages.
 

Brownslave688

You want a toe? I can get you a toe.
Can't wait till some kid playing in his yard gets his arms chopped off running up to the drone....
People flip out that we don't stand at the door til they come and hand them the package or God forbid we toss a t shirt a few feet.


But they'll be cool with this. SMH
 

ManInBrown

Well-Known Member
People flip out that we don't stand at the door til they come and hand them the package or God forbid we toss a t shirt a few feet.


But they'll be cool with this. SMH
I bet if they tell customers that the trade off will be that they might get there deliveries earlier in the day, they'd be fine with the drone dropping the package 10 feet from the door.

This is the first idea I've heard that makes me slightly nervous. The whole drone idea of the package leaving on the drone from some warehouse somewhere is too far fetched. This is actually realistic. I don't like this one bit
 

ManInBrown

Well-Known Member
LOLOL at UPS worrying about emissions. This is strictly a cost cutting move. They could care less about emissions. This isn't good.

How are they going to try to work this though? It seems it would only be effective in very rural areas. On my route, by the time I stick the package in the drone, I could have already been to the door and back.
 
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