Autonomous Tech: How the supply chain is going hands-free

Drone, meet van. Van, meet drone

At some point, it seems likely that the independently developing worlds of UAVs and autonomous trucks will intersect and create some kind of truck-drone hybrid. At least two companies – The Workhorse Group and Matternet – seem to be headed toward that crossroad, albeit from different directions.

Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group, operates an eightrotor “octocopter,” also called “HorseFly,” which is designed to be used in tandem with electric package delivery trucks, some of which are already deployed in FedEx and UPS fleets. The latest Workhorse drone weighs 15 pounds, empty, and has a 10-pound payload capacity. It has a maximum speed of 50 mph, and can remain aloft for 30 minutes, according to the company.

Workhorse has a drone-delivery model that works under the FAA’s guidelines, whereas Amazon has been confounded by the line-of-sight requirement. “We launch from atop the truck, and efficiencies are not as good as … just launch[ing] from 30 miles way, but they are staggering,” explained Steve Burns, chief executive of Workhorse. By concentrating on the last mile or less of the delivery, Workhorse is able to conform to the FAA’s line-of-sight rules. “At two or three cents a mile, which is the electricity these drones use, the efficiencies are just remarkable.”

In a similar fashion, Matternet has released its next UAV product called the “Matternet M2” drone, which also has the capability of taking off and landing on the roof of a truck or van, fully autonomously. “We’re very much targeting the smaller packages, since 90 percent of parcels are below the 2.5-kilogram mark,” said Oliver Evans, head of global business development for UAV manufacturer Matternet. “The distance our Matternet M2 drones can fly has increased to 20 kilometers on a single charge.”

In cooperation with Mercedes Benz, Matternet recently unveiled a new concept called the “Vision Van,” which is equipped with two launch and landing stations for Matternet drones. Specifically, the Vision Van concept will most likely service the business-to-business market, said Evans, who was formerly chief cargo officer of Swiss International Air Lines. “We envision the vehicles operating a trunk route, going to a virtual hub with the Vision Van,” he said. “The drones would then be operating in and out of that virtual hub, taking off and landing on the roof of the vehicle.”

In developed areas in Europe and the U.S., “you might see savings by a factor of three-quarters, so you have costs that are a quarter of the current costs,” Evans added.