Drone Express Aims To Be The Amazon For Drone Deliveries
26 September, 2024- Drone Express operates from Dayton, Ohio. The company is pursuing a new business model. Officials hope this model will make it the Amazon of Drone delivery.
The company recently launched delivery service operations in Winston-Salem, N.C . It plans to offer customers the benefits of Drone delivery. Customers will have access to groceries and other products from various vendors. This approach resembles how Amazon handles ground delivery. CEO Beth Flippo shared this insight with DroneLife.
“We’re not selling our products. Retailers will place their goods on our marketplace. Orders can be placed there, according to her. Our ownership of the marketplace side sets us apart since we can offer the same approach as Amazon.
Drone Express will deploy hexacopters created by the firm to do its deliveries. These UAVs can operate at 40 mph. They have a battery life that supports about 40 minutes of flight time. The UAVs will carry their cargo suspended from the underside. They can hold up to 10 pounds. Yet, Flippo mentioned that the typical payload will likely be five pounds or less. This adheres to the Amazon delivery strategy and lessens the strain on the UAV.
She said that most of Amazon’s shipments are under five pounds in weight. Using smaller objects more frequently is the same objective that we are trying to accomplish. Flippo added that the company’s UAVs can deliver up to 50 pounds of items to a home. Using ten Drone flights, each carrying five pounds, they can do this. This method costs less than delivering the same items with a single truck.
“We can break up the order. We can still do it more than having a truck drive around with it for two hours”, she said.
The company aims to offer UAV deliveries within a five-mile radius of the UAV’s home base. Yet, the company will only make the first deliveries to clients two or three miles away.
Incorporated in 2021, Drone Express launched as a spinoff of Telegrid. Flippo’s parents founded Telegrid in 1984. As a defense worker, it first produced radios and wireless mesh networks for the armed forces. Unmanned UAVs could take advantage of one of those mesh networks. We kept getting calls from these Drone delivery firms trying to sell us these radios. We stated that there was a business possibility here, Flippo added. We created Drone Express and built the UAV around this mesh network.
Dealing with the FAA through Telegrid provided valuable experience. This background helped Drone Express pursue the agency’s approval. She stated that their goal is to carry out business operations that are not visible to the naked eye. Drone Express was one of the FAA’s first ten companies to receive type certification. A Part 135 certificate could only be obtained by completing this crucial step. With this accreditation, the business will be able to carry out commercial Drone delivery services.
“American Airlines receives the same certificate”, she clarified. To date, only five other UAV delivery companies have received that certification. Quasi Aviation, UPS Flight Forward, Zipline, Google Wing, and Amazon are the names of them. Flytrex is a Drone delivery startup that Quasi Aviation partners with.
Drone Express partnered with Kroger. Deliveries of the chain’s supermarket goods were their goal. This led to partnerships with Papa John’s and Wind Supply. Wind Supply is the largest distributor of building products in the United States. Flippo claimed that Drone Express chose to alter its approach. They desired to expand their partnership beyond a select few merchants.
Two years ago, the company began developing its app. This app would help Drone Express create a new marketplace. In this marketplace, customers could order anything they wanted. It may be delivered to their house in under fifteen minutes.
We’re not selling our products because it’s a lot like Instacart, she said. Instead, a large number of retailers would list their goods for sale on the Drone Express market. A wide range of products would be available for customers to select from. In lieu of a delivery charge for every UAV flight, clients will pay a fixed monthly amount. This fee goes to Drone Express.
“What’s unique about us owning the marketplace is that we can provide the same model as Amazon”, Flippo said. At $5.99 a month, you get unlimited delivery, no tipping requirements, and no order quantity restrictions.
Drone Express chose the Winston-Salem area to test its business model. They partnered with AeroX for this effort. AeroX is a public-private collaboration. AeroX is committed to developing North Carolina’s advanced air mobility ecosystem. Radar stations on the ground are being networked by AeroX. These stations can track any airborne object. This includes Drones, manned UAVs, and even birds. They can UAV objects flying at altitudes between the surface and 400 feet.
AeroX’s network gives Drone Express a new capability. It allows them to use a ground-based detect-and-avoid system. Their UAVs do not need any extra gadgets to get installed. But, Drones can’t carry that much right now. Because of this, the cameras’ size is limited.
Flippo added that the Winston-Salem region fits in with the company’s strategic plan. They focus on diverse urban areas. They also target areas characterized as “food deserts.” In these areas, people lack ready access to grocery stores.
Delivery is vital for the residents of such places, as we are aware. They must have access to food and medication supplies. Maybe these things aren’t where the people are. It’s likely that they won’t even be able to drive to them, she continued.
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