The most notable competitors in the space are Amazon’s Project Wing that has a drone capable of flying 50 miles per hour with a weight capacity of 5lb and Alphabet’s X lab project.  The United Kingdom and Australia have been test markets for these drone delivery companies.

United States Government Prepares to Approve “Beyond-Line-Of-Sight” Drone Flights

Recently, there has been some chatter about the United States government preparing to approve a drone program that will allow drones to fly “beyond-line-of-sight”.  Looser restrictions like this is helpful for the drone delivery space and much needed for totally autonomous flying delivery drones.

Zipline has flown over 4,000 flights in Rwanda since 2016 with plans on increasing their efforts.  Plans to increase daily flight operations from 50 flights per day to 500 flights per day is underway.  Using new methods such as computer-vision technology will help with pre-flight checks and allow Zipline to increase the number of flights.  More on Zipline’s medial supply deliveries in Rwanda.

The Future of Automation

Automation is exciting and can lead to a future full of delivery drones flying around in the sky and making deliveries within minutes of an order being placed; however, as we’ve learned from the recent incident in Arizona where Uber’s self driving car allegedly ran over a pedestrian and shortly after the company announced a pullback on it’s testing operations may suggest that many hurdles still exist.  This could cause a step backwards for totally autonomous delivery drones in the air and on the ground.

Available Delivery Software for Delivery Companies

Delivery software companies like Zippykind put the automation into the workflow between an order being placed and a driver arriving with the order by empowering drivers and dispatch operators with advanced logistics technology.

History of Boeing’s eVTOL (electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing)

The drone was developed in only three short months through the Boeing Research and Technology program.  This step toward unmanned drones by Boeing has tremendous application potential in commercial markets.

Amazon, UPS and Google also have all been working on drones capable of carrying large payloads.  These companies seem to have a huge interest in improving logistics for delivery and their race toward solving these issues through drones seem to be growing.  Looking forward, you may look up in the clouds one day and see a large fleet of Boeing drones flying around carrying payloads containing appliances, food, water and other retail goods.

Door to door package theft has been a growing problem ever since home delivery has been in existence. I’m sure you’ve seen a Youtube video or two of a home surveillance camera catching a thief in the act. Most people aren’t home during the normal delivery business hours which seems to have led to massive door theft. The solution up until this point has been for delivery drivers to leave the package at the door.

Alternative Delivery Solutions

Many courier companies and startups have tried to solve this issue.  There once was a new startup on Shark Tank that tried to solve this problem by placing a secure box outside the recipients home and drivers would then be charged with the task to leave the package within the secure box.  While this is a creative idea, convincing millions of home owners to buy a box is quite a feat to overcome.

Amazon’s Delivery Solutions

Amazon aims to resolve this problem by offering in-home deliveries. The program is called Amazon Key and is available only to Amazon Prime members. It’s important to note that in order to enroll in this program, you will need to purchase a kit for $250 which includes a surveillance camera and a key.  The surveillance camera will be triggered and will notify the home owner when the delivery driver arrives to your door with the package.  The customer can then watch the delivery driver drop off the package.  The delivery driver will use the key provided by Amazon to enter the customers residence.

What’s Next For Home Delivery and Delivery Software

For years Amazon has led the way in home deliveries and it will be exciting to see what they come up with next.  Perhaps a flying drone or driver-less car is in the works.

Automation is a key component to quicker and more efficient delivery transactions.  Amazon may have solved the issue of door theft and improved key factors on the frontend of the transaction, but have they solved the problem of automation and route optimization which are backend problems?  After all, a human will need to deliver the package to the door which drives up the delivery cost because the humans’ wages need to be accounted for.

Sophisticated delivery software can help improve communication between the customer and the driver and can increase the route optimization for dispatch and the driver.  Zippykind has created a delivery management software that offers dispatch operators total oversight over their fleet of drivers and offers drivers advanced route optimization tools so that each driver can get to where they need to go quickly and can update customers and dispatch throughout the delivery process.  If you operate a delivery business and are wondering how you can keep up with titans like Amazon, then consider Zippykind as your delivery management software.

If you are a health nut or just enjoy the convenience of having healthy food delivered to your doorstep then you’ve probably heard of HelloFresh.  HelloFresh, a Berlin-based meal delivery company operating out of the United States has recently announced its plans to take the company public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

A few factors could help shape the way we look at the potential success of failure of HelloFresh as a public company.  A rival of HelloFresh, Blue Apron took its company public last June and has seen a bearish response from investors.  Another important factor to consider is Amazons recent acquisition of Whole Foods.  Whole Foods as a healthy food delivery alternative to HelloFresh could threaten the market share of HelloFresh.  Additionally, Albertsons, another potential competitor of HelloFresh recently acquired Plated, a “chef prepared” meal delivery service for $200 million dollars.  The meal delivery space is getting crowded, but does HelloFresh still have a fighting chance?

There is no doubting the United States fascination with healthy food and meal delivery is definitely on the rise, but I think HelloFresh will need to expand into more foreign markets to see a bullish response from investors.  HelloFresh says that it wants to raise 250 million to 300 million euros from its offering.  The raise could be used by HelloFresh to enter new markets and establish itself as the go-to healthy meal delivery service in these markets.

Fast Growing Demand for Home Delivery

CEO Dominik Richter has said that taking the company public is the next logical step and I would have to agree.  HelloFresh has been increasingly burning through money the past few years on marketing to new customers.  HelloFresh is just one of many meal delivery services in the United States and their fate as a public company is still undecided, but there is no doubting the fast growing demand of home delivery.  Zippykind, a Saas delivery software company operating out of the United States provides a software platform for delivery drivers, dispatch operators and customers to communicate effectively and for deliveries to be dispatch automatically and with ease.  Learn more about the Zippykind Delivery Software platform.

Lots of concerns have circled the drone delivery market including: safety, air space, security and reliability.  Despite some companies like UPS and Amazon publicly botching test flights, the public seems to still be strongly interested in getting their next pizza or package through drone delivery.  There are so many concerns related to drone deliveries.  For example, would medical supplies and prescriptions be off limits for drone deliveries?

Some Questions to consider related to drone deliveries

• Safety
  • What happens when a drone malfunctions and falls out of the sky and hits you while you are walking down the street?  Will there be a special type of insurance for commercial drone deliveries?
• Air Space
  • Larger drones whether used for commercial or personal use require registration with the FAA .  Will a new special license be given to commercial drone companies that dispatch delivery drones?  Will we see the “Uber” of drone deliveries soon?  What happens if air traffic becomes worse than highway traffic?
• Security
  • Most high tech drones are built with GPS (Global Positioning System), all delivery drones are built with GPS capabilities.  So will there be a panic response code sent to dispatch when a drone is shot out of the sky?  Will we see a new waive of drone theft from people sabotaging drones carrying expensive payloads?
• Reliability
  • What will be the success rate of a drone delivery?  Will it be better than a delivery driver can offer?

Despite these complex concerns, large box stores still seem to show a lot of interest in pursuing drone deliveries.  Below are some proposed solutions to the concerns raised above.

• Safety
  • Perhaps all drones could have a built in parachute that could be deployed in the event of a malfunction.  Deploying a parachute would slow down the descent of the drone and would soften the blow if one smacks you in the head as your walking down the street.
• Air Space
  • Requiring all commercial drone delivery companies register each drone and limit the number of drones each company can have airborne at a time could reduce the number of drones in flight and reduce air traffic.
• Security
  • There is a Silicon Valley startup that has created a Carbon Fiber cage which is attached to the bottom of the drone and acts as a carriage for the package.  Perhaps the cage could have a locking mechanism that could be unlocked by the intended recipients phone using LBE (low energy bluetooth) signal much like how phone to POS systems handshake a transaction.
• Reliability
  • Many postal companies leave the package at your front door which i’m sure reduces the reliability of the actual intended recipient receiving the package.  So it will be interesting to see which method of delivery will have a higher rate of reliability.

Some say all of the drone delivery talk and test flights is just good viral marketing by large box stores, some say it’s the future of small package delivery.  Zippykind is in the business of creating software to help products and people get from point A to Point B faster and more efficiently.  We believe there is a huge market for drone delivery and that drone delivery can be a more practical solution than traditional methods of delivery.

In response to the increasingly growing demand for home delivery, Zippykind has created a software that offers smaller companies the ability to run their business like FedEx and offer their customers an “Uber-like” experience.  There is no reason why billion dollar technology should only be reserved for large corporations.

Take a look at the array of features offered by Zippykind.  Zippykind offers an easy to use solution for dispatch operators, drivers and consumers.  Improving communication between the consumer and your company along with creating as much automation as possible has been a priority of Zippykind since day one.  Consumers can receive SMS text messages and driver’s can call or text the consumer with delivery details.  Dispatch operators can send delivery driver’s push notifications to the Zippykind driver’s app with details about the delivery.  The Zippykind platform offers a ton of flexibility and options.  Zippykind is built to handle On-demand and Route Delivery.

If your company currently offers delivery services and you are struggling to keep your routes, drivers and orders organized, then Zippykind is definitely right for you.  Much of the Zippykind platform is automated to make assigning new delivery tickets and communicating with customers as easy as possible.  Zippykind offers a free account which gives you 50 free deliveries per month.  You can see more on the Zippykind pricing and the paid account options by clicking here!