Market Trends of Drone Logistics Industry
North America dominates the global market share due to the increasing adoption of drones in delivery services in the coming years
- In recent years, there has been a surge in the market, propelled by advancements in drone technology, a growing appetite for swift deliveries, and the quest for efficient logistics.
- Walmart has forged alliances with four drone delivery firms—DroneUp, Flytrex, Zipline, and most recently, Wing—transforming 36 of its stores across seven US states into drone-centric delivery hubs. Amazon Prime Air has rolled out its drone delivery initiative, which is currently in trial runs across California and Texas. Tesco, in partnership with Manna, debuted its drone delivery service in Galway in 2020, successfully completing nearly 10,000 deliveries in its inaugural year.
- Regulations are beginning to take shape. In a notable move, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) formed the Beyond the Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Advisory and Rulemaking Committees (ARC). By 2022, the ARC underscored the urgency of establishing a regulatory framework, including airworthiness certification, for commercial BVLOS flights in more challenging environments. In September 2023, the FAA greenlit BVLOS operations at seven designated sites, waiving the need for Visual Observers, and granted the green light to two major players: UPS Flight Forward and Zipline.
- By January 2024, Walmart's ambitions were clear. In collaboration with Wing and Zipline, it aimed to extend its drone delivery reach to cover 75% of Dallas-Fort Worth by year-end. Their service footprint would encompass 1.8 million households, ensuring deliveries within a 30-minute window. Notably, 75% of the 120,000 items typically found in a Supercenter meet the criteria for drone delivery in terms of size and weight.
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The commercial segment gaining the traction in the future
- By early 2022, global commercial drone deliveries surpassed 2,000 per day, which has since escalated. While this number remains a fraction of total deliveries, it underscores the shift from mere testing to operational use. Drones, poised to revolutionize last-mile deliveries, can cater to a spectrum of needs, from consumer goods like prepared food and small packages to critical B2B services like transporting medical samples.
- Under specific conditions, drones are not just a futuristic vision but a cost-effective reality, especially in regions with inadequate road infrastructure or when consolidating deliveries isn't feasible. Their eco-friendly profile is impressive, boasting CO2 emissions lower than even electric cars and vans on a single trip and significantly trumping those of gasoline vehicles.
- India's drone start-up investments in the financial year 2023 neared USD 50 million, nearly doubling the 2022 figures. Bolstering this, the Indian government unveiled a robust 1.2 billion Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the drone manufacturing sector in the same year.
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