Prime movers

Businesses, charities, aviation companies and university departments are working together in trials that seem to promise drone delivery on demand. Chinese ecommerce company JD.com has announced a program of drone deliveries in rural regions, aiming to reach customers with poor road connections that make courier journeys slow and arduous. DHL has run a regular parcel drone service in Germany since 2014, using a four-rotor Parcelcopter modified to cope with North Sea wind and rain. Swiss Post has worked with a Californian drone manufacturer to trial a service designed to deliver emergency supplies and ferry medical tests to and from the lab. The Norman Foster Foundation's Droneport project is intended to ease transport of essential supplies in parts of Africa with poor conventional transport infrastructure. The drones are coordinated via cellular and Internet technology, creating a specialized air traffic control system. The company has even patented a delivery receptacle that uses infrared beacons to connect with the drone, which winches the parcel down to be stored securely. Delivery drones would need their own set of regulations to allow them to operate safely. In Japan, regulators are working closely with companies like Yamaha to fasttrack legislation so that drones can develop into new markets.