A few years back, Jeff Bezos, the president of Amazon, made a promise to its customers.  He promised delivery services by drone would become a new service, and he called it Amazon Air. But what is the truth about drone deliveries? Is it the way of the future, or just a hazard?

In truth, there are many unanswered questions, making this a part of the reason why delivery services like this aren’t yet a reality in the US.

How Does Drone Delivery Work?

In a perfect world you will make your online purchase selection, then click on air delivery as your shipping option. Within 30 minutes a drone will be deployed with your package to be delivered to your doorstep.

This service will eliminate days of waiting for your package to arrive via “snail mail”.  Or even the quicker (by today’s standard) 2-day delivery that already comes free with services like Amazon Prime, and bring the consumer convenience via an unmanned aircraft.

This scenario is truly the vision of the science fiction movies from years past. But can drone delivery services be a reality?

Some hurdles to overcome

There is a laundry list of legal and logistical hurdles that the commercial drone delivery industry will have to answer and overcome before a service such as this comes to fruition.

Federal Aviation Administration Red Tape (Part 107)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put into place rules and regulations that would strictly prohibit a drone delivery service operation for commercial purposes. Even with a licensed remote pilot there is the question of line of site, which requires a drone to be in the pilot’s line of site at all times the aircraft is in flight. There are other potential issues, such as range of travel, flight path, interference with manned aircraft, and even congestion of U.S. airspace that has the FAA pumping its brakes on approving delivery services as an option.

Until safety can be guaranteed 100 percent , it would appear that a Section 333 waiver of FAA’s rules would not be granted to drone delivery services.

Privacy – Protecting Your Information

It is a given that delivery drones will use GPS to navigate to your home’s location, and that drone will be equipped with a camera so that the driver on the other end is able to determine a safe landing zone for your packages. The question is, what other information will that camera be gathering? A lot of information can be gathered by a drone camera, even one used for the mundane task of delivering a package to your doorstep. But what if that drone is gathering your personal information? What is being done with it? This is a question that will need to be addressed as issues of privacy are not new to the drone industry.

Logistics of Drone Deliveries

Outside of using GPS to find the address of your home, how is a delivery service drone going to navigate issues like apartment homes, high-rise buildings with interior hallways, commercial properties, or even addresses that don’t show up on GPS? Taking out the human factor in package delivery might make the logistics of front-door delivery service a bit tricky when considering the many different types of front doors that receive packages.

Number of Packages Allowable

This seems like a silly question, but exactly how many packages will each drone be allowed to deliver? Additionally, how big is too big a package for a drone to deliver? FAA rules state that a drone can’t weigh more than 55 lbs., and that any drone attachment counts in the total weight of the drone. This would put a definite limit on the package weight limit that drones can deliver.

How many packages can a drone feasibly accommodate without the possibility of dropping one of them on the way to its destination? It would seem counter intuitive to deploy a drone with every single box in a shipment, not to mention the traffic congestion that would be caused by several drones delivering separate packages to the same doorstep.

Cost Efficiency of Drone Delivery

What is drone delivery going to cost the average consumer? The saying, “you get what you pay for,” would seem fitting in this situation. It can’t be inexpensive to use a drone for delivery of a package with all of the current rules and regulations in place.

While the drone loading and deployment might be automated, the drone requires a human to fly it (or at least program the flight path) until the FAA lifts the requirement that commercial drone be piloted by a licensed remote pilot. A drone pilot on salary ranges, on average, from $80,000—$100,000 annually. This is over twice the amount a UPS or FedEx delivery driver makes.

It would make sense that the cost would be passed down to the consumer in higher shipping fees.

Property and Package Damage

So, you’ve ordered your product, and a package is on the way. It is expected to arrive at your doorstep within a few hours, but when the drone gets to your home, it knocks over your mailbox on the way to your doorstep, or it drops the package on your car windshield. This is worst case scenario stuff, but logistically, it could happen.

Are you as the consumer prepared to sign a waiver of liability should the drone have an accident on the way to your doorstep if damage occurs to your personal property? Or, are you prepared to incur damage and have to file an insurance claim against the delivery company because a drone damaged your property.

Damages and accidents are inevitable, and they will happen. But, is it a headache that is worth dealing with just so that you can add convenience and shave time off a shipping date?

Legal Liability of Drone Deliveries

Along the lines of the above question about property and package damage, what about liability? Who does the liability for damages rest with? What would it cost to insure a fleet of delivery drones considering the nature of the service? Does that cost of insurance get passed to the consumer?

As stated before, accidents do happen, a drone delivery company will need to have a firm policy in place, as well as adequate liability insurance if it does need to file a claim. Without it, one small accident could bring a company like this into financial ruin.

Verdict of Drone Deliveries – Future or Hazard?

Until the above concerns and questions have definite answers, and a very detailed plan of action and safety plan is in place, drone delivery services are still a thing of the future, and might be considered a hazard of today.

Though, it would be great to order a product and have it at your doorstep within a few hours, so, we look forward to the day when this becomes a reality!