New Drone Technology to Disrupt Freight Market
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A new technology aims at reducing global air freight costs at about half the price of piloted aircraft, and delivering freight faster than ships through the use of large autonomous drones. A US startup is now testing a new seaplane concept that could evolve into huge cargo drones that fly freight across the Pacific, touch down autonomously over water, and unload at ports around the world. The US Marines have been testing a similar concept, their K-Max helicopter, for cargo operations.
The company, Natilus, plans to build and sell a small drone by 2020 that can carry nearly 2 metric tons of cargo and operate between regional airports. Such drones could allow companies to open new air shipping routes between cities with low volumes of freight. According to the company’s website, the drones would be able to deliver freight X17 faster than a standard cargo ship.
They want to test the water-taxiing capabilities of the small prototype drone with a 9-meter wingspan in San Francisco Bay. Waterborne testing, done under the careful watch of the Federal Aviation Administration, sets the stage for flight tests in 2018.
According to spectrum.ieee.org, these early remote-controlled flight tests could lead to semiautonomous and then fully autonomous flights in which the drone autopilot navigates over a route of waypoints set by a human controller. By removing human pilots, Natilus wants to create a streamlined aircraft with just a single engine and more room for jet fuel or cargo.
Natilus hopes to sell its drones to delivery and logistics companies in a bid to disrupt the US $15.5 trillion global freight market. One potential market for cargo drones could be in servicing midsize cities in regions such as China and Africa that lack major airport infrastructure but want to ship goods to international markets.
Similar cargo drones the size of aircraft have yet to take off in a serious way around the world. The US Marine Corps previously tested a K-Max helicopter modified to become a drone capable of delivering several tons of supplies to troops in Afghanistan. More recently, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences transformed a light aircraft into an experimental AT200 drone that can carry more than 1.5 metric tons of cargo.
