Autonomous drone delivery company DroneUp has achieved a new industry benchmark of 500 deliveries made in a single day while also dramatically improving the pilot-to-drone ratio required to safely accomplish each flight.
The company has reached the new industry benchmark with a record-setting 40 deliveries per hour, carrying deliveries up to 4.5-kilograms. Automation testing has achieved a one-to-many operator-to-drone ratio, which has helped drive down the delivery cost for DroneUp’s partners.
Meanwhile, DroneUp’s Cloud-Based platform allows users to manage missions from anywhere globally, utilising real-time geodata from UTM for accurate airspace, terrain, and traffic information. Automated mission plans are generated from HubOps Mission Requests, allowing operators to safely and efficiently oversee up to 20 concurrent missions through a unified interface.
“We are excited about this achievement, but it’s only the beginning of what’s possible,” said DroneUp CEO Tom Walker. Our work in driving volume while ensuring the reliability and safety of our system is ongoing. Coordinating package loading, energy management, and safety is critical but also challenging to scale. Our team has optimised ground logistics to ensure that we can maintain high delivery volumes without compromising on safety or efficiency and, most importantly, drive costs down.”
“At the same time as the Federal Aviation Administration begins to open air space for simultaneous drone deliveries, our ecosystem has been through its own rigours of testing and is ready to meet the moment,” he added. “Its proven design makes the economics of drone delivery feasible for retailers while providing intuitive accessibility that brings unprecedented convenience to end-users.”
DroneUp says the key to a sustainable drone delivery industry is to achieve a scale that’s feasible for commercial sellers while meeting customers’ increased demands. From its research and development facility at Richard Bland College, DroneUp performed capacity testing on behalf of the company’s commercial partners. Relying on a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver, the team has focused on automating the delivery process over the last several months.
DroneUp recently completed a survey of customers who used drone delivery in Q4 2023. The survey found that drone delivery earned over 90% positive ratings on having packages arrive safely, on time, and in perfect condition. For retailers, the survey illustrates that drone delivery is driving incremental purchases, with 36% of survey respondents acknowledging that they found additional items to add to their cart.
“For DroneUp’s commercial partners, the ultimate goal is to increase the number of deliveries that can be safely completed while diversifying the types of items and packages that drones can effectively manage,” said DroneUp CTO John Vernon. “Testing will soon address new weight capacities that eclipse our 4.5-kilogram limit, further increasing the package size and testing of many-to-many drone operations.”
