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New drone technology – your next business opportunity?

So far, drones have mainly been sold for fun and leisure. However, this technology is increasingly being used for the delivery of goods ordered online, carrying out security inspections and monitoring, and other commercial purposes.

More and more often these days, drones are to be found under the Christmas tree as presents for the kids. But they’re now being seen as much more than just a toy. The development of intelligent, highly accurate flying devices for commercial purposes has been coming on in leaps and bounds. According to analysts, it won’t be too long before the Christmas presents themselves are being delivered by these flying postmen.

Overcoming the ‘last mile’

A lot of money is currently being invested in the production of GPS-controlled transport drones. The despatch of online orders through the post or via a logistics company may represent few problems, but the challenges posed by the so-called ‘last mile’ – the distance from the logistics centre to the customer’s front door – are providing rather more difficult to overcome. It is here that the concept of flying parcels is set to revolutionise the logistics industry.

As the distances involved are fairly manageable, the requirement for drones to be used as flying postmen is not especially urgent. And in any event, most packages are delivered normally with the mail and reach the recipient on first attempt. But it’s a different matter in a sector such as healthcare, where the quickest way to send urgent packages such as lab samples or medicine is via drone. In summer 2015, the Swiss postal service tested out its new flying postmen, and the following summer the city of Bern saw the first mini-robots being used.

Autonomous delivery drones

In the US, drone delivery is even more advanced. Online giants such as Google and Amazon, not to mention retailers such as Walmart, are aiming to circumvent third-party delivery entirely. In future, they want goods to be delivered directly to the customer from checkout or the warehouse via drone. The only stumbling block at the moment is whether the technology can be made safe in the air. But make no mistake: the future belongs to autonomous delivery drones.

New business start-up ideas

As well as being used for logistics purposes, drones are also being deployed as flying cameras. The Zurich police force is increasingly using them to monitor major events. In the US, observers and helicopters are also increasingly being replaced by drones for the monitoring of buildings and facilities.

The commercial opportunities offered by drone use in various sectors should especially be of interest to Swiss start-ups. Current legislation may forbid the use of drones in public areas, but in industries such as agriculture, or in innovative areas such as avalanche safety, drones could play an important role in aerial photography or video capture for the purposes of virtual exploration.

To sum up, start-ups don’t need to concern themselves with drones too much just yet. But it is worth keeping a eye on the development of drone technology, regardless of the industry you work in. Because it’s already clear that we’ll be hearing much more about drones in the future.

Further articles of interest available on the Online Magazine of localsearch.ch.

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