While it might not be the first ever drone delivery system, Flytrex’s new delivery route is quite impressive. It has already been deployed in Reykjavik, Iceland, one of the best countries we’ve travelled in. Here they will be flying sushi and other take away foods over a single route to save costs and time.
Flytrex doesn’t actually make drones, in this case they’ve taken a DJI Matrice 600 and modified it with their own special cargo bay. The entire system is quite impressive but what’s even better is their drone delivery management system which is drone agnostic.
This is what Flytrex is focusing on and it also includes working with local aviation authorities. Their cloud based drone delivery system also includes training for the employees that use it. In this case they’re only flying one single route which is across a small bay that would otherwise take 30+ minutes to drive around. Their drone does the ~3.5 km trip in just a couple of minutes and without any emissions either.
Source: flytrex.com
Fully Legit Iceland Drone Delivery
While they’re only flying one route now, Flytrex hopes to be flying many more towards the end of the year. They’ll also be delivering to customers yards too at that point if all goes well.
Source: flytrex.com
Many don’t know this, but Iceland is a very forward thinking technology country. They have digital payment systems in virtually every business across the whole country. They rank 4th out of the entire world for fastest broadband with an average download speed of 110 Mbps. This is extra impressive when you consider that there are only about 335,000 people in the entire country. It’s also the most sparsely populated country in Europe too so to have that level of Internet speed across the whole country is amazing.
As such it’s no surprise that they’re pushing hard for future technologies like drone delivery.
Future Analysis
While there are many other companies out there vying to deliver goods via drone few are delivering real products to real customers in urban areas. Flytrex is also quite unique in that its focus is on the management software and infrastructure. This would presumably allow any business to simply purchase their services and enable drone delivery straight away.
Big companies like Amazon can afford to run their own unique programs. But having drone deliveries being open for any and all businesses is what will really get the technology going.
A future timeline to help oversee advancing technology
It’s also easy to forget that decent commercial drones are only about 4 years old now. The maker of the Matrice, DJI is only up to their 4th generation of drones (Phantom 4 / Mavic Pro) and already the industry is booming.
Drones are used for a huge number of applications. These include the obvious amateur filming or hobby racing/flying as well as professional filming. Beyond these though are more serious uses such as real estate photo’s, building inspections, insurance inspections, emergency search and rescue and even newer ideas like rapid reforestation and aerial planting. They all either enable completely new abilities or drastically cut down on time and money whilst improving quality.
Drone delivery though is likely to be one of the biggest and most public facing uses. There are a few trials like this one from Flytrex working now. However it’s predicted that within about 2 years we will see legitimate deliveries start. Ones in proper urban areas with known brands and complete business management tools. I can’t wait for online delivery to take 30 minutes and cost pennies thanks to the efficiency and cost reductions that drones bring.
Drones have gone from pretty much a hobby toy that crashes every 5 seconds to something that’s a must in multiple industries. All in just 4 years. Where do you think they’ll be in 2020? Let us know in the comments below!
The benefits include: 1) How to get those silky smooth videos that everyone loves to watch, even if you're new 2) How to fly your drone, from taking off to the most advanced flight modes 3) Clear outlines of how to fly with step-by-step instructional demonstrations and more 4) Why flying indoors often results in new pilots crashing their drone 5) What other great 3rd party apps are out there to get the most out of your drone 6) A huge mistake many pilots make when storing their drone in the car and how to avoid it 7) How to do all of these things whilst flying safely and within your countries laws.
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