Amazon and Uber are also waiting for take-off.
We knew that the technology was ready, all it needed was the legislative framework. You can bet that in the coming months other players will appear. Amazon and Uber have already launched their own programmes, called Amazon Prime Air and Uber Express respectively.
These players were interested in this technology from very early on for obvious reasons.
Quicker and cheaper.
The first is of course speed. Unlike an aeroplane, however small, a drone doesn’t require a runway to take off and land. It can do it anywhere. In the air, it is then less constrained by the rules of the road, speed limits, fixed routes and traffic jams.
The other advantage lies in the economic cost.
We know that the last delivery kilometre is the most expensive (up to 20% of the total supply chain cost). By freeing up staff from this type of position, companies can really regain a significant competitive advantage!
What about Europe?
At the end of 2018 the first Droneport opened in Antwerp in Belgium. A technology campus 100% dedicated to aviation with or without a pilot. The site has a 2.4km landing strip with control towers. It aims to host training and test areas to facilitate the development and mastery of this new technology. Amazon has even chosen to set up shop there…perhaps as a rear base to develop its drone activity in Europe?
Jeff Bezos’s brand has even indicated that it wants to carry out tests in Antwerp’s urban area this Summer.