Quadcopter of the future: UPS tests drone-slinging delivery van

The future of drones is here: UPS tested a UAV this week in Tampa, Florida, to deliver packages right to the door. Following in Amazon’s footsteps, UPS packed a fleet of drones in the truck and flung them at houses to cover the last mile. The driver is no longer required to get out of the truck, find the package, or bring it to the door.

During the test, Sid Perrin drove through a rural neighborhood in a UPS van with a strange lump on the roof. Rather than walking up the long driveway, she parked the car and placed a package in the center of the drone. Sitting in the driver’s seat, she tapped a command on a touch screen. The roof of the truck went down, the drone took flight, and Perrin drove down the road to her next destination.

The drone flew a short distance to the house, dropped the package, and returned to the truck where it then plugged itself into a charger to wait for its next flight.

“A trial like this is important, because it’s not just a drone itself doing something, but all of the support processes, and the people,” said Timothy Carone, a physicist and expert on automation at the University of Notre Dame. “As a test, it’s more realistic, because it’s looking at how it all integrates into the business.”

The drone used by UPS weighs 9.5 pounds, is equipped with eight rotors, and can stay in flight for 30 minutes. The van used is a diesel-electric hybrid and is similar to any other UPS delivery truck. The system comes from Workhouse Group, an Ohio company known for building hybrid electric trucks.

According to UPS, cutting just one mile from the route that its 66,000 drivers follow each day would save the company $50 million a year. Thus, if a truck lets drones cover that last mile, the devices will pay for themselves. While the drones won’t replace UPS service providers, they can assist and improve efficiency.

Companies like Amazon, UPS, 7-Eleven, and Google are so ambitious to get orders to customers quickly as it’s critical in such a competitive online shopping industry. Amazon Prime Air supplies extremely fast deliveries via drone, but only to customers in the south of England. 7-Eleven uses drones to deliver products anywhere from Slurpees to flu medicine to customers in a fixed testing area in Nevada. Mercedes-Benz partnered with drone developer Matternet to hook two drones to the roof of a delivery van. German engineers are working to get drones to land in nets on the roofs of cars.

While it may be some time before UPS drones are at your doorstep, the company is working with the FAA to make it a reality sooner than later.

Source: Wired