Drones may be delivering to your home in no time
First field trials promise quick advancements in this new technology.

The world's largest retailer, Walmart, has just launched a pilot to deliver select groceries and essential items with automated drones, and the impact is huge, not just because Amazon won't like it, but because the drone industry is about to take off like nobody else. Walmart has partnered with Flytrex, an end-to-end drone delivery company based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And now she's planning to get some serious package deliveries down the air - someday. “We know it will be some time before we see millions of packages delivered by drone. This still feels a bit like science fiction, but we've got to a point where we're more and more about Learn about the technology available and how we can use it to make our customers' lives easier, "said Tom Ward, senior vice president of consumer products, in a blog post. However, it is currently in testing phase and it is unlikely to be available to anyone outside of Lafayetteville anytime soon. Walmart, of course, is not a pioneer in researching the possibility of drone delivery. Several companies recently received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate their own delivery drones, including Amazon, UPS, and Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Overall, the idea of drone delivery is anything but novel, but efforts to enforce this mainstream have been blocked time and again by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) on security and privacy issues, which is entirely legitimate. However, last January the Trump administration tabled a proposal to allow drones to fly over densely populated areas and at night, two factors that have historically halted drone delivery efforts. Wing started a pilot program with Walgreens and FedEx last September to deliver the drones to eligible customers in a city in Virginia. The key to this permit was that there were no high-rise buildings or other obstructions in the city. Wing's drones are equipped with additional motors designed to prevent crashes, and all flights are remotely monitored by certified pilots. Also, wing drones don't land on drop-off points, but rather hover about 20 feet in the air, dropping their cargo to the ground on a line, reducing the chance of it falling on someone's head. Last April, Wing became the first company to receive FAA approval for door-to-door delivery of drones. But like in any other industry, competition is fierce here too. Earlier this month UPS also received FAA approval to operate delivery drones on university, hospital and corporate premises. UPS has also partnered with drugstore CVS to develop a drone delivery service for prescription drugs. About six years ago, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicted that the online retail giant's "Octocopter" drones would begin to buzz out of fulfillment centers in the coming years. In late 2016, the company announced its first fully autonomous Prime Air delivery. At the end of August, the FAA approved Amazon's Prime Air service, which uses drones to deliver parcels and which will be equipped with "sense and avoid" technology for security reasons. Uber also plans to launch a fleet of food delivery drones for the next year. The food delivery service started a testing program in collaboration with McDonald's in San Diego this summer. However, a proposal from Uber met with local resistance over noise pollution. As a result of the continuing trend, sales of commercial drones are booming. According to the Allied Market Research report, the global commercial drones market is estimated at $ 10.28 billion by 2022, which equates to an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.2% from 2016 to 2022. By 2027 it is expected to reach over $ 18 billion. The pandemic could speed things up, especially with social distancing at the forefront of a sick future. While threats to privacy and airspace security and security issues remain, there are indications that COVID-19 could help overcome some of these regulatory hurdles.
