UPS and CVS Partner for Drone Deliveries to Homes

October 30, 2019 – – UPS has recently announced that it is expanding its drone delivery services. Although it is currently limiting this partnership to health-oriented businesses such as CVS among others, it may not be long before a bigger expansion to encompass more generalized businesses gets underway.

Although on a practical basis it is still in its infancy, drone delivery has the potential to be a game-changer for many businesses both big and small. Some companies may be big enough to experiment with their own drone delivery fleet but for most that will simply not be a practical endeavor. This is where UPS comes in.

Some companies such as Sunsella, a well-known online retailer, are watching developments with great interest. Laura Maynard, a spokesperson for the company said, “It is only a matter of time before suitable items from companies such as ours can be dropped to a buyer’s home within a few hours.”

In its most basic form, a delivery drone is simply an autonomous vehicle. Wheeled delivery drones have been tried out in several cities around the world with some success, but their operation and payload capabilities are relatively small scale and are not suitable for customers living out of town.

This is not the case with UPS as they will be operating a fleet of drones which are actually unmanned aerial vehicles. More correctly referred to as UAVs, these drones can be used to transport all manner of packages. UPS is transporting medical goods at present, but the future will not be so limited and will undoubtedly expand to encompass food and other goods.

Up until now, most drone deliveries have been purely in test mode. This step forward by UPS marks an exciting new phase because they are actively delivering CVS medications to real CVS customers. Although the system is still being tested on a small scale it is being tested “in the wild” and not just under laboratory conditions.

Initially, it was thought that drone deliveries would be a relatively quick system to implement. But that was not the case. As drone size and carrying capacity increased more and more thought had to be given by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to safety legislation.

Some of these drones are capable of carrying up to 55 lbs. which is a very significant payload. The potential for harm has to be not only be calculated and considered but minimized as far as is practicable. To all intents and purposes, they have to be made as foolproof as it is possible to get. This is why the FAA has resisted pressure and not rushed its certification program.

In most tests up to the present, the drones were flying autonomously, along predetermined flight paths. To be able to transport home deliveries a lot of new information is required. For instance, the flight path and an alternative path would need to be pre-determined and programmed in for every single address that was being delivered to. That information is not readily available, so this is not something that is going to happen overnight.

Up to now, drones have not been allowed to fly beyond a pilot’s visual range, so these new permissions granted to UPS from the FAA letting them do so is a major step forward. Other interested parties will be watching to see how UPS gets on while they wait for approval for their own drone fleets.

It’s not going to be an instant expansion to deliver everything to everyone because there are so many factors that the FAA has to take into consideration for certification. At present drones are not allowed to fly over urban areas which is limiting from a shipper’s point of view and it is unknown when or if that restriction will ever be lifted.

Laura Maynard from Sunsella said, “There are still many obstacles to be overcome before science fiction becomes science fact, but drone delivery promises an exciting and convenient future for both retailers and customers.”

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For more information about Sunsella, contact the company here:

Sunsella
Mike Law
(702) 952-9541
info@sunsella.com
9550 S Eastern Ave
Suite 253
Las Vegas, NV 89123

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