Consultant’s Insight: UPS advances its drone program

UPS continues to advance its drone program and its latest success is the recent approval from the FAA allowing it to operate its Matternet M2 drones beyond visual line of sight, meaning longer distance flights beyond the view of ground operators. [caption id="attachment_69752" align="alignright" width="298"] Cathy Roberson, Cargo Facts Consulting senior consultant and Air Cargo Next columnist[/caption] This is welcome news for UPS’ wholly owned subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward , which continues efforts to make last-mile delivery more efficient and sustainable. UPS Flight Forward was formed in 2019 to focus on drone parcel delivery. Sarah Lyon-Hill , associate director for research development at Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement , told the publication Popular Science that drones could “decrease road congestion, speed up last-mile delivery services and offer those services at lower costs to support lower-income households.” The need for ‘a human touch’ “It’s important to remember that drones can’t ever replace our drivers, who offer a level of service and human interaction that our customers tell us they value, respect and trust,” Mark Wallace , UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability, wrote in a 2017 GE blog post . “We need a human touch in many situations. That will never change.” As part of the UPS contract with the Teamsters that went into effect last month, the Teamsters now have more say in the introduction of technology that could impact union jobs. If UPS wants to implement drones, vehicle platooning, driverless pickup, delivery vehicles or other similar technologies, UPS must notify the Teamsters’ National Negotiating Committee six months before the change. It also “shall be required to bargain the effects of any such change.” Increased sustainability Sustainability is among the top reasons UPS says it is pursuing drone deliveries. UPS’ goal is to be 100% carbon neutral by 2050. While it’s also invested in electric and autonomous vehicles, drones are of great interest for frequent deliveries and those deliveries in rural and hard-to-access locations. For example, in 2017, UPS tested a residential package delivery by a drone launched from the roof of a UPS delivery truck. The drone delivers a package to a home and then returns to the delivery truck while the driver continues along the route to make a separate delivery, thus helping to reduce miles driven while building operating efficiencies. According to a 2022 study published in the medical publication Cell Patterns, using quadcopter drones to deliver small, lightweight packages could reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 94% and 84%, respectively, per package delivered. However, there are limits. “Despite the benefits of drones, there are still limitations that might prevent their use in certain applications,” study co-author Thiago A. Rodrigues , a doctoral candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University , said in the Popular Science article. “For instance, drones have limited capacity in terms of the mass and volume of the parcel they can transport.” Rodrigues added that aerospace regulatory restrictions, which limit drone delivery routes, could impact widespread drone operation. Areas near airports, schools, stadiums and government buildings may have temporary and permanent no-fly zones that prohibit drone flights. The clock is ticking! It is your last chance to join Air Cargo Next for its second annual Air Cargo Tech Summit on Sept. 18-19 in Brussels, sponsored by Unisys and Brussels Airport and featuring a fireside chat with Brian Hodges, managing director, American Airlines Cargo. For more details and to register, click here .

Consultant’s Insight: UPS advances its drone program

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