Delivery drone

A Zipline drone designed for delivering medical supplies and blood.
The RQ-7 Shadow is capable of delivering a 20 lb (9.1 kg) "Quick-MEDS" canister to front-line troops.
A Wingcopter drone delivering COVID-19 test kits in Scotland.[1]

A delivery drone is a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to transport items such as packages, medicines, foods, postal mails, and other light goods.[2] Large corporations like Amazon, DHL and FedEx have started to use drone delivery services.[2] Drones were used effectively in the fight against COVID-19, delivering millions of vaccines and medical supplies across the globe.[3] Drone deliveries are highly efficient, significantly speeding up delivery times and avoiding challenges traditional delivery vehicles may encounter. Given their life-saving potential use cases for medical supplies in particular have become the most widely-tested type of drone delivery, with trials and pilot projects in dozens of countries such as Australia,[4] Canada,[5] Botswana,[6] Ghana, Uganda,[7] the UK,[8] the US[9] among others (see below).

Delivery drones can be autonomous, semi-autonomous, or remote-controlled.[10] The most common types of drones are terrestrial and aerial, however, they can also be aquatic.[10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference GuardianWingcopter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Hossain, Mokter (2022-03-01). "Autonomous Drones: A Game Changer in Lightweight Delivery Services". California Management Review Insights.
  3. ^ Solomon, Michele (2022-07-01). "Drone Delivery of Medications and Healthcare Supplies". Disruptive Healthcare. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  4. ^ Koetsier, John. "Google's Wing Kicks Off Mall-To-Home Drone Delivery Service". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  5. ^ Stewart, Ashleigh. "How lungs delivered by drone saved an Ontario man's life". CBC News.
  6. ^ "Drones deliver blood to prevent maternal death in Botswana | UN News". news.un.org. 2021-05-30. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  7. ^ Okiror, Samuel (2021-05-04). "'Gamechanger': Uganda launches drone delivering HIV drugs to remote islands". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  8. ^ "UK's Royal Mail aims to open up to 50 drone routes for rural deliveries". Engadget. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  9. ^ "Drone companies are preparing to deliver coronavirus vaccines in rural U.S." Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  10. ^ a b "Drones and Personal Delivery Devices - The Nexus - Urbanism Next". www.urbanismnext.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.