World's First Drone Delivery Service Launched in Australia

Wing, the drone delivery company owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, is starting its first public drone delivery service in Canberra, Australia. Approximately 100 homes will have access to the service, with more expansions coming soon.

The service works by partnering with local businesses including coffee shops and pharmacies to deliver their products “in minutes.” Wing’s regulatory approval comes with restrictions.

Source: Wing

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, CASA, has allowed the delivery subject to several restrictions, which includes:

• Delivery times are limited to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays;

• The service originally is restricted to 100 homes in the north of the Canberra central business district;

• The drones need to avoid major roads; and

• A drone pilot must be at the helm during operation, even though the system is automated.

• The normal distance between drones and people is set at about 100 feet (30 meters), but CASA has reduced it to 16.5 feet (5 meters) above people and 6.5 feet (2 meters) to their side while the drones make deliveries.

Eligible customers will also be given a safety briefing about how to interact with the drones.

The Future of Drone Delivery

Wing believes that drone deliveries could be worth as much as AU$30 to AU$40 million (RM88 to RM118 million) to businesses in the area, and says drones will be able to deliver as many as one in four orders by 2030.

According to Business Insider, CASA said the launch was “very likely” to be the world’s first drone delivery service. It means that Google’s drone delivery company has beaten Amazon to offer a commercial service to the general public.

Despite high profile trial deliveries in the UK and USA, Amazon has yet to launch its drone delivery service commercially.

In December, Wing announced that it was launching a trial service in Finland where it would offer 10-minute deliveries for free within Helsinki.

It’s not just Amazon who is competing with Wing to offer drone deliveries. Israeli startup Flytrex began trialling its own drone logistics service in Iceland back in 2017 and Flirtey was making commercial drone deliveries for 7-Eleven in the US back as early as 2016.

As for Malaysia, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that the commercial use of drones in the postal and courier industry can be implemented in the next five years.

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Source: The Verge

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