DHL Pulling Its Parcelcopter Drone, Ceasing Drone Development! Amazon following suit?

[Drone_Pilot]

No more DHL Drones

 

[Drone_Pilot]

Amazon cuts back drone delivery team

WoW two companies the same day that's sad

 

[Starz]

That whole debacle was a waste of time from the start. From a business standpoint, a great idea for the bottom line. All tax deductible.

 

[JC in New Hampshire]

Amazon cuts back drone delivery team

WoW two companies the same day that's sad

Sad for whom? With armies of lawyers and lobbyists and unlimited budgets the giants would have customized the regulatory landscape to suit their convenience. If AMZ wants to fly in your back yard they certainly won't want you there.

 

[Drone_Pilot]

It's a great idea but for heavy lifters not a drone that carries a couple of pounds around
Great for construction

 

[Sully53]

I wonder if they finally realized the limitations such as what adding weight does to flying ability and battery life issues, and weather changes.

I always wondered if one of these companies made delivery and did not have the battery life to make it back to the factory / station what would they do?

 

[Drone_Pilot]

I wonder if they finally realized the limitations such as what adding weight does to flying ability and battery life issues, and weather changes.

I always wondered if one of these companies made delivery and did not have the battery life to make it back to the factory / station what would they do?

I think that might have taken all that into consideration

 

[Ty Pilot]

I think that might have taken all that into consideration

I have always thought it was a publicity stunt. Indeed they had to know what the logistics were. A typical Amazon or UPS delivery truck makes around 160 to 210 stops and delivers about 240 to 330 individual packages a day, this is using one person, one truck in just about any weather condition.

To do that same work, imagine the numbers of people involved to coordinate. load, fly and maintain the 'fleet' of drones they would need - just to match one truck and one driver, then multiply that by hundreds of thousands of such trucks running across the country every day.

It was never going to happen in mass, or even for a small portion of what these companies deliver in a day. It was simply to promote that these companies are 'forward thinking' industry-leading types. I believe there could be uses for drone deliveries on a small scale in some areas but DHL and Amazon are in the business of moving millions of tons of commerce every day, reliably and economically, and drones will never be able to provide that capability.

 

[Lets Fly]

Sad for whom? With armies of lawyers and lobbyists and unlimited budgets the giants would have customized the regulatory landscape to suit their convenience. If AMZ wants to fly in your back yard they certainly won't want you there.

Agreed.

 

[Drone_Pilot]

Agreed.

I meant sad for the workers that will be laid off hopefully they'll be transferred to another department in the company

 

[Dennis H]

That whole debacle was a waste of time from the start. From a business standpoint, a great idea for the bottom line. All tax deductible.

Quite pleased about that, they were just not going to want us around leisure flying.

 

[Lets Fly]

I meant sad for the workers that will be laid off hopefully they'll be transferred to another department in the company

Yes, but for others it is coming. The store Kruger has gotten permission to fly within a mile radius and deliver packages up to five pounds.
"Drone Express will commence test flights this week near the Kroger Marketplace in Centerville, at 1095 South Main St. The flights will be managed by licensed Drone Express pilots from an on-site trailer with additional off-site monitoring.



There will be real geographic limits to the delivery area in the service’s early stages, Beth Flippo, chief technology officer of TELEGRID, said in an interview Monday. (Drone Express is a division of TELEGRID.)

"Drone Express will not be allowed to fly beyond a drone controller’s visual line of sight until the company obtains the necessary Federal Aviation Administration certification. She declined to state an exact or even an estimated distance for that limit, but the company can, if it must, deliver packages to a Drone Express employee who can then take the package the rest of the way to a customer outside that limit."

 

[Drone_Pilot]

Yes, but for others it is coming. The store Kruger has gotten permission to fly within a mile radius and deliver packages up to five pounds.
"Drone Express will commence test flights this week near the Kroger Marketplace in Centerville, at 1095 South Main St. The flights will be managed by licensed Drone Express pilots from an on-site trailer with additional off-site monitoring.



There will be real geographic limits to the delivery area in the service’s early stages, Beth Flippo, chief technology officer of TELEGRID, said in an interview Monday. (Drone Express is a division of TELEGRID.)

"Drone Express will not be allowed to fly beyond a drone controller’s visual line of sight until the company obtains the necessary Federal Aviation Administration certification. She declined to state an exact or even an estimated distance for that limit, but the company can, if it must, deliver packages to a Drone Express employee who can then take the package the rest of the way to a customer outside that limit."View attachment 133166

But is there an additional charge delivery net with a drone versus delivering it through ground couriers

 

[CactusJackSlade]

It's too bad the "big boys" have already tainted the FAA with all these reasons to clear the airways and mandate RID in consumer drones. According to the guy I talked to with he FAA and the CES show in 2020 the big boys were the main push for RID and "making the airways safe" for commercial endeavors... and now they back out.

 

[BigAl07]

I personally thrilled this is crumbling down. It was a horrible idea and as already mentioned, just a publicity grab!! Trying to ride the BUZZ WORD as far as they could. Adios

 

[sar104]

It's too bad the "big boys" have already tainted the FAA with all these reasons to clear the airways and mandate RID in consumer drones. According to the guy I talked to with he FAA and the CES show in 2020 the big boys were the main push for RID and "making the airways safe" for commercial endeavors... and now they back out.

There are perfectly good reasons relating to the safety of manned aviation to drive RID, so it would be rather disappointing if the major driver turned out to be these other industries. I'm always a bit suspicious of "a guy I talked to", but how solid do you rate that source?

As for the delivery industry - I never understood how they thought that would work. Autonomous heavy-lift drones flying around residential neighborhoods trying to deliver parcels? What could possibly go wrong?

 

[dronerdave]

For the average populated area I never could figure how they could reach a more cost saving threshold compared to vehicle delivery considering all the moguls a drone would have to get around. Overhead obstructions is one that comes to mind along with weather. And it might be kind of hard for a drone to hide a package in a less disclosed area than the middle of the lawn.

Then there was the little cage thing people bought into thinking they would be making money off Mavic drone delivery.

 

[LA 2020]

No more DHL Drones

I never thought it would work just too much to deal with not to mention lawsuits. It was a nice idea but they didn't think it through

 

[petes]

Wasn't this whole drone delivery nonsense one of the contributing factors to Remote ID

 

[Drone_Pilot]

For small businesses I think it's a great idea. Somebody mentioned in an earlier post that Kruger was going to be using drones for delivery within a 1 mile radius. A company like UPS or DHL it would have never worked. Look how many packages they average a day just with one driver and one truck. Do the math. Just my opinion ?

I never thought it would work just too much to deal with not to mention lawsuits. It was a nice idea but they didn't think it through