Chapter 33 Difficulties in Drone Delivery

The advantages of drone delivery are obvious.

The first is to improve delivery speed and efficiency. Consumers are increasingly demanding delivery timeliness, as we have said before.

Second, it can reduce distribution costs.

In China, due to scattered rural online shopping users, poor roads, inconvenient transportation, and small delivery volume, delivery routes are long, time-consuming, and high in delivery costs.

Even in big cities, the cost and delivery complexity of goods during the last mile from the logistics center to the consignee is high due to traffic congestion, traffic control, etc.

UAVs have the advantages of convenient deployment, low cost, strong maneuverability, and low requirements on the task environment. Using UAVs to replace traditional transportation vehicles for express delivery can better solve the problem of express delivery costs.

The third is to respond flexibly to various complex situations.

With the continuous growth of urban cars, the uncertainty of ground distribution caused by factors such as congestion is gradually increasing. Drones can reduce the number of road transportation by taking over the small package transportation market, thereby improving the efficiency of urban logistics delivery.

[A book-chasing app recommended to me by an old book friend I have known for ten years, Yeguo Reading! It’s so easy to use. I rely on it to pass the time while driving or before going to bed by reading and listening to books. You can download it here

】

In addition, in the face of large-scale social public health events, drone delivery can give full play to its characteristics of flexibility, convenience, and contactless delivery, providing citizens with secure logistics services during special times.

Fourth, it can effectively deal with the problem of labor shortage in the future.

Although China's current labor costs are still relatively cheap, as the aging trend accelerates, labor costs will inevitably increase in the future. The worst scenario is that there will be no one available. Therefore, using drones for delivery and replacing traditional manpower with the power of technology is also a way to prepare for a rainy day.

It is precisely because drone delivery has so many advantages that it has attracted such giants.

Of course, the concept of drone delivery has been around for so long. From 2015 to 2022, seven years have passed.

So many giants have failed to truly commercialize drone delivery. You can imagine how difficult drone delivery is.

In fact, in the field of trunk logistics and branch logistics, drone logistics and transportation technology is already relatively mature.

Mainly in the field of terminal distribution, drone delivery encounters many difficulties.

There are two main problems.

One is technical difficulties.

At present, drone delivery is still in the experimental stage, and its reliability and flight safety still face tests. The carrying capacity of drones generally does not exceed 3 kilograms, their flight time is only about 20 minutes, and their maximum distance does not exceed 10 kilometers. In addition, once it encounters a violent storm, the drone will be blown away and cannot find the north. If the drone loses control due to electromagnetic interference, it will only destroy the aircraft and the cargo.

Of course, the drones tested by the company can carry a load capacity of 10 kilograms, but the situation they face is still the same.

If a relatively complete high degree of autonomy cannot be achieved and ground remote control by personnel is required, the labor costs incurred will also prohibit enterprises. Therefore, mature and reliable artificial intelligence is the key to technology. However, both at home and abroad, these technologies are still far from being practical.

To put it bluntly, there are big problems with the signal, communication and endurance capabilities of drones, and their ability to resist risks.

Delivery workers can come and go in rain or shine, just to get a bite of food, no matter the weather.

But drones can’t do that. If the wind gets stronger or the rain gets heavier, it will dare to strike with you.

In the foreseeable future, this problem will be difficult to solve.

In addition, battery life is also an issue that has attracted much attention.

If the endurance of drone delivery is only 20 minutes, then even the fastest flight it can make can cover up this shortcoming.

The biggest obstacle to current drone technology is battery life. Unlike electric vehicles, which do not have battery weight requirements, drones need batteries that are both light and strong in battery life.

The battery life of 20 minutes is only enough for the drone to deliver goods back and forth. Such efficiency is far inferior to those of domestic logistics personnel who work more than ten hours a day.

This problem cannot be solved,

Drone delivery has no possibility of landing.

There are also signal and communication issues.

The traditional nature of signal transmission is low, and urban flying is prone to signal loss. Not only are there many no-fly zones for drones in first-, second- and third-tier cities, but more importantly, the effective travel distance of drones is only 2km, especially in urban areas with numerous high-rise buildings. Currently, drones use self-propelled Communication through signals can easily cause model loss.

A large number of cities can only fly within 1km. For this service distance, compared with manual operation, it is really a bit too small.

However, the emergence of 5G communication has brought hope of solving this problem. This problem is easier to talk about.

The above are the technical difficulties encountered in the implementation of drone delivery.

But in addition to technical difficulties, regulatory aspects also need to be considered.

The essence of drone express delivery is the extensive use of low-altitude airspace. Individual experimental operations are not serious. When drone express delivery is widely popularized and forms a relatively dense low-altitude traffic flow, airspace management and control will be essential.

Think about it, drone deliveries from multiple group companies are flying darkly in the sky.

If there are some accidents, then it will be a serial drone disaster!

It's okay if there is no one at the scene. If there is someone at the scene, life and property will be seriously threatened.

In fact, there have been many [aircraft bombing] incidents that have occurred, causing some bad effects, so the regulatory authorities attach great importance to this, and because they have more concerns, they will be more conservative.

Relevant management departments do not have enough experience in the control and management of low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude airspace. Once drone accidents occur frequently, the possibility of one-size-fits-all regulation will be very high.

This will be a major blow to the drone delivery industry.

This is also the reason why so many giants have failed and have not been commercialized on a large scale for so many years.

Not only domestically, but also abroad.

However, these problems are difficult for giant manufacturers in the real world to overcome in a short time.

But for Wu Siyuan, there is already a complete set of mature plans in the database of [Four-Armed King Kong].

This set of technology comes from "Ready Player One".

Local restaurants have commonly used drones to deliver takeaways.

One of the protagonist’s neighbors received a pizza delivered by a drone!

This technology is very mature.

Of course, some of this technology cannot be achieved in the real world.

However, [Four-Armed King Kong] combines the technological strength of the real world and makes an effective replacement. The final result will not be much behind the drone delivery technology in the world of "Ready Player One".

that's enough!