What’s new in drones?

The adoption of drones, as a critical business asset, is on the rise.

Director Sam Mendes used drones to film the opening chase scene in Skyfall. Martin Scorsese used drones to deliver an aerial view of a raucous party scene in The Wolf of Wall Street. In Jurassic World, audiences became virtual members of a flock of flying reptiles (while terrorizing people on the ground) thanks to a drone-mounted camera.

These use cases illustrate business nirvana: supplanting old ways of doing things with a modern alternative that reduces costs and saves time — while dramatically improving quality.

In Hollywood, flying cameras operate without a human pilot (through remote operation) relying on advanced analytics and AI to make complex decisions and to enable autopilot functioning (similar to what we see in commercial aircraft). Every film director is getting in on the action, illustrating how humankind loves to view the world from the air.

As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.” (Notice the aerial countryside view behind his Mona Lisa.)

In more mundane, but equally valuable use cases, drones are proving particularly innovative in commercial delivery, where they are being used to drop packages in rural business areas and suburbs (where same-day and two-day delivery has been largely unprofitable). For example, JD.com has been begun same-day delivery of digital orders to 100 rural villages in China, using 40 teleoperated drones.

While flying drones are years away from functioning as a personal transportation device, they offer promise to relieve traffic jams that plague dense, urban areas (as a modern traffic management solution). The FAA has funded 10 city projects designed to study drone innovation (two of them focus on traffic management). Amazon, Boeing, GE and Google are collaborating to develop a private unmanned, drone traffic management system, which NASA is testing.

Drones could soon reduce the costs and increase the availability of short-haul flights.

How else are drones being deployed?

Uber’s air taxi program will begin tests in 2020 over traffic-clogged streets in Dallas or Los Angeles. Uber hopes to offer the service by 2023. UberEats, which delivers food from local restaurants, could soon operate with unmanned drones.

The FAA is actively funding its Urban Air Mobility initiative having given several organizations permission to test autonomous drone deployment, including Google’s parent company Alphabet, Flytrex, Zipline, Matternet, Flirtey and Amazon (which just published a related patent).

Special cases in areas that are super-remote or dangerous (due to a natural disaster such as fire or flood) are deploying drones to send urgent medicines, such as blood and vaccines, to those in need, no matter where they live.

What are the challenges and how are they being overcome?

Ensuring the safety of drones as air taxis could take years. Hence, for society at large, drones won’t likely be a personal travel mode anytime soon. However they could be deployed as robot-piloted helicopters (that will drop you at a heliport). For now, drone traffic control systems are being developed to track, control and manage drone traffic to assure secure their air space and to protect the skies and people below.

Distances of a mile or more may be required between drones that operate over urban areas, limiting their usefulness. Urban infrastructure does not currently accommodate large numbers of vehicles for landing, something several European cities are addressing.

Most drones are battery-powered, limiting their range when compared with standard helicopters. Nevertheless, the prospect of fast, economical and safe point-to-point flights in congested cities is certain to attract significant interest and investment.

Learn more:

Our Amazing Aerial Future — How, When, and Why Air Taxis and Air Deliveries Will Change Our World. How the US, China, Dubai, and Israel plan to offer commercial drone operations by 2025.

Driverless air taxis in Dubai. The UAE city wants 25 percent of its total transportation to be autonomous by 2030. But that’s just the tip of Dubai’s technology iceberg.

FAA Fact Sheet for regulating unmanned aircraft. State and local laws in the US affecting unmanned vehicles for which consultation with the FAA is recommended.

EU rules for drone safety approved by European Parliament. Some drone operators are required to go through training before they can operate a drone.