China Joining Unmanned Delivery Regulation

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Recent regulation efforts made by US and European authorities regarding drone delivery are now joined by a Chinese move to regulate delivery flights by heavier unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Express Delivery Service by Unmanned Aircraft standard issued by the State Post Bureau of PRC will be effective from January 1st, 2021. 

As China’s first industry standard for express delivery service by unmanned aircrafts, the implementation of the Standard is of great significance for improving the last-mile delivery service, ensuring the safety of operations, as well as promoting the development of intelligent aerial logistics of urban air mobility (UAM) industry.

The Standard is applicable to express delivery services by unmanned aircrafts with a maximum empty aircraft weight of 116kg, a maximum takeoff weight of 150kg, and an airspeed of no greater than 100km/h. Moreover, it specifies the service entities, conditions, procedures, assessments, safety issues and compensation of express delivery by unmanned aircrafts, which provides a standard reference for postal express companies and drone operators to engage in drone delivery services in the future, according to the announcement on globenewswire.com.

The Standard was jointly formulated by industry-leading players including EHang, JD.com, and ZTO Express. 

EHang has proprietarily developed a complete suite of intelligent aerial logistics solutions, including the EH216L heavy-lift AAV for short-to-medium-haul aerial transport, the Falcon medium-sized AAV for urban express delivery, the unmanned aircraft systems, take-off and landing control sites and intelligent self-express service machines.