Will Drones be taking over the Freight Industry?
Drones are one of the biggest tech crazes as of late. From drone races to aerial photography and videography, drones have been adding a new dynamic element to a lot of industries that has been mostly heralded with applause and even awe. The shipping industry has had a lot of speculations made about its future; will there be a shift to autonomous vehicles? Are we still going to need manned trucks for shipments? And will drones have a part to play in the freight industry’s future?
There has been a lot of talk over the past few years about how drones can revolutionize and take over the shipment industry. Amazon has even been developing a drone delivery service for the Prime shipments. But is this truly a reliable solution?
For smaller parcels that only need to go a short distance, drones seem like a good fit for a shipment solution, but unfortunately what seems too good to be true, often is. The reality with drone shipments is that with the current technologies, you still need to have a manual pilot controlling the drone to make sure that it gets exactly where it needs to go. In the United States, they have taken this one step further with regulations that all commercial drones must be IN SIGHT of their pilots – obviously putting a damper on any shipments taking place. In addition to that, the amount of shipments that would be able to be carried by a drone are often few and far between. Overall, it seems that traditional shipments are still a better option for the majority of shipping needs. With the current drawbacks to drone shipments that we are seeing, it is safe to say that for the time being they are more of a novelty than an actual solution – though that is not to say it will always be so.