Amazon’s New Twist on Logistics: Out-of-Sight Drone Deliveries
It’s going to become the future of logistics and delivery and CRE property owners need to consider that now.
Amazon has been talking about delivery drones since 2013. It was clear this wouldn’t be a quick hop, skip, and jump from the launching pad to the customer’s front door to drop a package. There are practical and regulatory issues.
But things are flying forward, literally. According to Amazon, the FAA has permitted the company to expand its drone deliveries and scale operations by allowing its drone operations to extend beyond visual line of sight.
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that all commercial drone operators are able to maintain a line of sight to their drones until it approves a technology that can safely enable drones to fly beyond visual line of sight,” Amazon wrote. “Beyond Visual Line of Sight, known as BVLOS, is a term used in aviation to describe flying a drone where the remote pilot can’t see it directly with their own eyes. Instead, a remote pilot would rely on instruments or technology to monitor and control the drone at all times.”
Amazon said that it has developed its own BVLOS system including “an onboard detect-and-avoid technology,” which sounds similar to the technology used in self-driving cars. So, difficult to perfect and impressive if it works well, but not something totally beyond what anyone else has done.
The company said it provided detailed engineering information to the FAA and then conducted flight demonstrations, including “in the presence of real planes, helicopters, and a hot air balloon to demonstrate how the drone safely navigated away from each of them.”
An increasing number of customers will have the ability to order household essentials, beauty products, and drugstore goods. And here is a critical statement for CRE: “Later this year, drone deliveries will begin integrating into Amazon’s delivery network, meaning drones will deploy from facilities next to our Same-Day Delivery sites, which will provide Amazon customers with faster delivery of an even greater selection of items.”
Amazon is moving in a direction that other companies will go as well. This could reduce trucks on the road and also alter the dynamics and design of last-mile logistics facilities. Fewer trucks on the road might mean fewer loading bays. A warehouse might need launch pads on its roof. Material handling could require different structures to deliver single packages to a drone that will carry it out to a customer.
It’s not that logistics and retail companies need to immediately made changes, but they will need to consider what the future will bring and what that will require.