Your UPS packages could be delivered by drone in the relatively near future.
UPS drone delivery testing kicked off on Monday with a successful package delivery alongside a human driver. In 2018 the FAA chose UPS to sit on its drone advisory committee.
As of Monday, UPS tested a Workhorse HorseFly UAV Delivery drive that launched from the top of a UPS package car. The drone delivered a package to a home by itself prior to returning to the vehicle while the driver made a separate delivery.
Mark Wallace, the senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability for the company, offered the following comments:
“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. 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.”
There are currently no plans to replace drivers with drones or autonomous vehicles at this time, and the current thought seems to be that this will aid delivery drivers and save time. If UPS can make a reduction of one mile per driver per day over a year, it can potentially save up to US$50 million.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer and UPS