Amazon gave the kickoff to the present Amazon Prime Air, a package delivery service door to door by drones. Google, meanwhile, also joined the trend of remote controlled aerial vehicles to perform various logistics tasks.
In all cases, the great objection to such initiatives came on the part of the authorities, who were overwhelmed before the emergence of this technology in civilian hands and private companies seeking to take a commercial advantage. In turn, the vehicles to navigate the various urban obstacles and avoid collisions with other drones.
Apparently, the logistics company DHL seems to have drawn all these problems by implementing the use of drones in a specific task: sending medicines and various supplies for emergency situations to an island located off the North coast of Germany, without the need to fly over urban areas.
In this way, DHL will begin to ship packages using drones from the coast to the island of Juist, and with the permission of the German authorities who control the airspace.
“We are the first commercial user and non-military in the field of drones that manages a regular line of flight”, said Jurgen Gerdes, project manager of DHL. Whenever weather conditions permit, the drone will tour 12 kilometers that separate the island of Juist coast at a height of 50 metres, a journey that can be completed independently in a span of 15 to 30 minutes.
Equipped with four propellers, DHL drone weighs 5 kilos and can have a working load of up to 1.2 kilos.