{"id":121156,"date":"2017-11-28T11:52:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=121156"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:52:24","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:52:24","slug":"daimler-drone-takes-off-and-lands-again-marking-first-for-package-delivery-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2017\/11\/daimler-drone-takes-off-and-lands-again-marking-first-for-package-delivery-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Daimler Drone Takes Off \u2013 and Lands Again \u2013 Marking First for Package Delivery Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daimler's used a drone to complete 100 deliveries recently in Switzerland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These days, drones have become a common sight, frequently used by police and rescue squads, filmmakers, the military and, of course, by amateur \u201cpilots.\u201d But Daimler AG is claiming a potentially historic first that could yield one of the most significant breakthroughs for jointly commercializing both drones and autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n

The German automaker said it used specially outfitted drones to make about 100 delivery runs to satisfy e-commerce orders in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. The drones took off and then returned to specially designed landing platforms built into the roofs of two Mercedes-Benz Vito vans.<\/p>\n

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Global Auto News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“We are convinced that the project will evolve rapidly,\u201d said Stefan Maurer, head of Future Transportation at Mercedes-Benz\u00a0Vans. \u201cWe see great potential for our solution and intend to expand it to include further areas of application.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daimler, along with partners Matternet, a drone start-up, and Swiss online retailer siroop.ch, aren\u2019t the only ones looking at ways to use drones for retail delivery services. The big dog is Amazon which has been experimenting with the idea of using the unmanned aerial devices to rush goods from its warehouses to consumers rather than having to rely on traditional delivery services.<\/p>\n

(Skip the tip: Dominos, Ford test driverless delivery cars. For the story, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dubai has cleared the way for the first autonomous drones to be used by people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, ground-bases companies, such as FedEx and UPS, are looking for ways to both cut costs and improve their own services. One approach is to switch from manned delivery trucks to fully driverless vehicles. Daimler, Ford and several other manufacturers plan to launch their first driverless models by as early as 2021.<\/p>\n

But these delivery alternatives each have critical weaknesses. For drones, there\u2019s the question of range, among other things. And considering the amount of goods online retailers such as Amazon are shipping each day, the skies could quickly become over-crowded, especially if the drones all had to return to a regional warehouse to pick up a fresh load of goods.<\/p>\n

With driverless delivery vehicles there\u2019s what is known as the \u201clast 100 feet challenge.\u201d It\u2019s one thing to pull up in front of a home or business, but that doesn\u2019t actually get goods directly into the hands of a customer.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for details about Amazon’s drones and\u00a0autonomous vehicle programs.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One proposed solution is to give customers a code that would allow them to walk out and pickup packages from the vehicle. Domino\u2019s recently tried that approach during a pilot program, using autonomous Ford Fusion sedans to deliver pizzas to a select group of customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But that approach isn\u2019t expected to fly with customers, particularly during the sort of bad weather found during a Michigan winter.<\/p>\n

By adding drones to a driverless vehicle, Daimler and its partners believe they can solve the 100-foot challenge, at least by getting packages right up to a home or business\u2019s front door.<\/p>\n

In all, the two vans, each equipped with a single drone, made 100 deliveries during a two-week period. The partners are now looking at where they will go next.<\/p>\n

(To see more about drones and their uses for mobility, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“We are extremely satisfied with the results of the pilot project in Switzerland,\u201d said Mauer. \u201cThe aim was to test the technology and the concept in real-world\u00a0conditions and find out where optimization was required. We also wanted to know how people would react to this new form of transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies are looking for ways to incorporate drones into their business. In fact, Daimler AG recently made 100 deliveries using them in Switzerland. Go to TheDetroitBureau.com for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121156"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=121156"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=121156"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=121156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}