There’s no denying that people across the world are impatient. We live fast pace lives that don’t wait for anything. In fact, we pay an absurd amount of money for overnight shipping, and still wish our orders could arrive earlier because we hate waiting. So what could be better than overnight shipping? The answer is on-demand shipping that takes 30 minutes or less. On-demand shipping is made possible with the use of drones. Drones allow companies to deliver their products in an incredibly short time span. All over the world, in places like India, Rwanda, and the United States, companies have found that the solution to delivering things at top speed is drones.
Some people might ask “Why use drones when you can use vehicles?” The answer is that drones can be far more efficient in certain places such as Mumbai, India where the traffic is horrendous or Nyamabuye, Rwanda where the terrain is sometimes impossible to drive. These road challenges cause deliveries by vehicle to take a long time and in some cases, like in Rwanda, they don’t have time to wait on a critical delivery. When someone’s life depends on a delivery of something as vital as blood, timing is the most important factor to consider. The best way to deliver something fast would be through the sky by a drone. Drones are the next best form of delivery, whether they are used to provide blood to hospitals in remote locations, deliver pizzas, or ship items from online stores.
With any new or good idea there is always going to be a challenge that gets in the way. Some problems that drones face are inclement weather, wildlife, and air traffic. With unpredictable weather conditions, it can not be certain that drones would be able to safely take flight every day of the year. With high winds, rain, or storms, drones are at risk of being damaged. Another challenge would be having to share the air with birds. Birds might attack a drone in flight because of their protective instincts to guard their territory. Then there’s the big challenge of managing air traffic. Since drones are considered an aircraft, also known as an “unmanned aerial vehicle”, they must follow the rules of the air. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sets out these rules. The United States has also taken steps to make it possible for companies to use drones. Congress has been laying laws and working hard to find safe ways to allow commercial drones to fly in our country. In fact, “President Obama signed the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 into law” (Bertrand S3), allowing drones to be used in emergencies. It also states that there is a plan to implement “unmanned aircraft systems traffic management” (cite?) in the USA which is one of the most important aspects for drone safety. When the USA and FAA figure out a way to manage the sky, we will be seeing drones zipping through the air on their way to delivering packages. But before we are able to walk outside and see a sky full of drones, there has to be a solution for the challenges of inclement weather, wildlife, and air traffic. Bertrand even writes in her article, “With so many challenges yet to be addressed, it will take some time for drones to become mainstream delivery vehicles” (S5).
The need for speed is what prompts companies to use drones. For companies like Zipline, the speed and impeccable timing that drones have are what make them the best available resource to carry blood in Rwanda. Zipline is a company located in Nyamabuye, Rwanda “that uses electric autonomous aircraft to deliver medicine to hospitals and health centers on demand” (00:49). The reason Rwanda has integrated drones into their blood distribution process is because lives are depending on blood to be brought to them in good timing. In Rinuado’s TED talk, he gives an example to prove a point: If a woman experiences postpartum hemorrhaging, she is going to need a lot of blood units in order to survive. This is where Zipline’s instant delivery becomes a life saving tool. When the woman starts bleeding out, the hospital can immediately contact and receive blood units from Zipline via drone. Then the hospital is able to save that women who most likely could not have gotten enough blood from the hospital’s general supply.
Zipline has successfully integrated the use of drones in their country, but on the other side of the word in the United States, there are even bigger companies like FedEx, NASA, Google, Amazon, and Walmart showing interest in drones. These companies are improving their technology and service at a fast pace in order to keep up with customer satisfaction– the faster they can make their deliveries, the better. Amazon Prime Air “has been testing its drones in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands” (Bertrand S3). Google’s program “Project Wing” has “aerial vehicles transfer packages to the robots on the ground” (Bertrand S3). Walmart has mentioned their ideas to use drones for “inventory and management and possibly for curbside and home delivery” (Bertrand S3).
Drones are the next best form of delivery because they can also be good for our environment. Delivering packages by electric drones instead of gas powered vehicles “could reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions” (CITE). A study done by Constantine Samaras, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Joshuah Stolaroff, Environmental Scientist, compares the environmental effects of drones and trucks. They figured out that “an electric drone uses much less energy per mile than a heavy steel delivery truck burning diesel fuel” (CITE). Their research showed that drone deliveries save 54% more greenhouse gas emissions than truck deliveries. Along with that, using drones over trucks would save fuel. By seeing that there are many positive effects of drone usage, there is an even greater reason to mke drones the next best form of delivery.
Now imagine ordering a pizza and having it arrive at your doorstep by a drone. How cool would that be? Francesco’s Pizzeria in Mumbai, India sent their handmade pizza on a test flight, and it was successful. The owner of the pizzeria, Mikhel Rajani “predicted that such drones save time and money in a city with heavy traffic and can be common within five years” (Yale Global Online). Drones are useful in areas of heavy traffic because they can fly over all. If more companies delivered their pizzas by drone, customers will be beyond satisfied. Their pizza would arrive still hot and fresh and in incredible timing.
Drones are capable of saving lives, making speedy deliveries, and improving the environment. And if those aren’t good enough reasons to prove that drones are the best form of delivery, then there’s not much else that can be convincing. As the FAA continues to make commercial drones available for all companies