It is reported that Wing,a subsidiary of Alphabet,Google’s parent company,hopes to establish a UAV delivery network,which will be able to deliver millions of orders every year.The company said that the network operation of UAVs will improve efficiency.
This technology is being”scaled”tested in Logan,Australia,where Wing can deliver up to 1000 packages per day.The company is also carrying out UAV delivery test in Lusk,a suburb of Dublin.
Wing said that they and other companies were negotiating with the British Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority to agree on the regulations allowing the delivery of UAVs.
CEO Adam Woodworth said that the delivery system looks”more like an efficient data network than a traditional transportation system”.
He also said that in the experiment,”we did many grocery deliveries,we did many delicatessen deliveries,and we also completed many coffee deliveries.”
At present,consumers will not be charged extra for UAV delivery.The company did not disclose the final price of this service.But experts said that in order to achieve financial sustainability,UAV companies will have to make a large number of deliveries.
Dr.Steve Wright of the University of West England said that it was not surprising that Wing was one of the companies trying to achieve homeless distribution.He said:”Everyone is still studying the UAV itself.These devices will operate uninterruptedly at night and during the day,which is far more than what we have done before.But now people’s ideas have turned to larger application scenarios.Now the first problem that enterprises are trying to solve is supervision.However,the next problem is imminent,that is how to manage and guide this huge number of robots.The answer is big data,Wing and Amazon has seen this.”
Wing’s UAV distribution network includes three basic hardware elements:UAV distribution,UAV landing and charging platform,and automatic loader that allows enterprises to leave packages for collection.
The company said that with these elements,the UAV can pick up,distribute and return to charge according to the most reasonable mode for the whole system,rather than just fly from a base to the customer and then fly back.
Woodworth said in an interview:”A specific example is that the UAV takes off in one place,it may fly to another enterprise to pick up a box,and then it may fly to the delivery place,and then not return to its take-off platform,but fly to another adjacent place.”
The advantage of using this system as a network is that it can quickly adapt to the peak demand in a specific region.The location of charging piles can also increase rapidly.
The company said that the system still has a high level of automation.When a UAV is started,it will check the following items:whether the UAV is in the correct position,whether it carries the correct software,and whether it is authorized to take off.
The ground pilot can supervise the delivery UAV group to ensure their safe and effective operation,rather than just monitoring one UAV.
More civil aviation regulators around the world are adopting rules that allow such operations.However,the project also has some challenges to overcome,such as local residents’complaints about noise.
The company has invested”a lot of work to make the plane as quiet as possible”.The planning software is designed to avoid the”unmanned aerial vehicle highway”,that is,every flight passes through the same house.