UPS, in partnership with the drone technology company Matternet, operates a daily drone delivery of medical supplies in WakeMed’s campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. The drone delivery cut the transport time of crucial medical samples from about half an hour to just over three minutes. That can be challenging when the material being moved is a life-saving specimen like blood or an organ sample. UPS is making at least 10 drone deliveries per day across WakeMed’s campus, and will increase its flight frequency in the future.
This particular use case of healthcare specimens within the healthcare campus is not only critical in a just-in-time event, but it could be a life-changing event. The capabilities drones bring to the table adds on to the capabilities for healthcare to provide better service and patient care to their patients.
This is the first revenue-generating commercial application drone delivery. And is major step for proving the worthiness of the highly regulated and much-hyped technology. By working closely with regulators, UPS beat competitors including Amazon, FedEx, Uber, Qualcomm, as well as startups like Airmap and Flirtey that have tested delivery drones.
This means UPS is beating Amazon in the drone wars. Domino’s, Amazon, and many of the world’s biggest companies have been anticipating the prospect of delivery drones for several years now, but regulators have been strict about greenlighting drone projects. Last year, the regulators granted permission to some companies (Google, Uber, FedEx, Intel) while barring other companies (most notably Amazon) from joining.
The slowness in drone technology is due partially to government regulation. Governments worldwide are worried about the potential for “rogue drone use” and the safety concerns that could stem from drones malfunctioning and falling from the sky. But last May, the Department of Transportation took a major step in better regulating the commercial use of drones, announcing that 10 state, local, and tribal governments were approved to work with private corporations to test drone technology.
Companies and governments in the program are focusing on areas like aircraft and airport runway inspections, drone landing stations and ports, and deliveries. UPS, which already has a robust medical-supply-chain network, was chiefly interested in the healthcare applications of drones. In 2016, UPS partnered with Gavi, a health organization, and Zipline, a drone company, to deliver blood samples to remote areas in Rwanda. Experts have said the nearly $10 trillion global healthcare industry could be seriously bolstered by drone delivery technology, particularly in disaster zones or remote areas.
The global smart commercial drone market can be segmented on the basis of product type, application, and region. Based on the product type, the global smart commercial drone market can be segmented into fixed wing, rotary blade and others.
On the basis of application, the global smart commercial drone market can be divided into delivery drones, agriculture monitoring, law enforcement, oil & gas, disaster management; entertainment, media, and mapping; and others. Based on region, the global smart commercial drone market can be classified into North America, Europe, South America, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. The commercial drone market in North America is expected to account for the largest market share followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. This is primarily due to their increased adoption for a variety of tasks such as traffic management, congestion analysis, and crime scene investigation.
“Mum when I grow up I want to be a musician”Mum answers ” well you have to pick one sweetie, you can’t be both”.Sent in by Cheryl Rixon who obviously doesn’t like the caliber of my usual jokes 🙂 If you have great jokes to share, email me at [email protected].