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DHL parcel drone: Was considered a vision, but remains a hallucination
Photo: Nikolai Wolff Fotoetage / AP / dpa
The Deutsche Post DHL Group has discontinued its parcel drone development project “Parcelcopter”.
It has not been continued for a long time, said a spokesman for the Deutsche Post DHL Group on Saturday.
The "Welt am Sonntag" had previously reported on it.
A pilot project for sending medicines in Tanzania together with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the drone manufacturer Wingcopte will also not be continued.
"In recent years we have tested various applications for the DHL Paketkopter in which the drone was mainly used when transport via established infrastructure was difficult or would have taken significantly more time," said the spokesman. Important insights were gained in the process. »But we have also pointed out several times that regular operations in the area of delivery by parcel drone are not planned in Germany. There are also no new pilot projects planned. "
The DHL drone logistics project began with a lot of optimism: DHL drones took off for the first time in 2013 and demonstrated the following year that the North Sea island of Juist could also be supplied by air. In 2016, the first delivery to an Alpine community was possible. In Tanzania, drones have been transporting medicines since 2018; in China, DHL concluded a strategic alliance with the drone manufacturer EHang in 2019.
Most recently, on August 6, 2021, the international branch of DHL reported in the customer magazine “Discover” about the progress made with DHL drones: There is a lot of “unrealistic hype in the drone industry”, but in logistics this “very innovative technology is embraced as realistic Delivery service option.
This flying postman is a real innovation and ready for the mainstream. «The news from the corporate headquarters had probably not yet got through.
In Europe only one goes on
With its Prime Air project, which should also be considered in Europe in the medium term, Amazon is now unrivaled for the time being.
The American online shipping giant has also been working on the development of parcel delivery drones for several years.
Even more: In 2016, an Amazon patent on drone carrier airships caused a stir - if CEO Jeff Bezos dreams, then he is brave.
In September 2020, Amazon even managed to get approval from the American air traffic control authority FAA for its delivery drones.
The FAA had already approved drone projects of the Alphabet subsidiary Wings and the parcel delivery company UPS in the previous year.
At the same time, however, there were signals that Amazon itself was not entirely satisfied with the progress made up to that point.
The in-house development department is said to have been reduced in size, instead Amazon began to look for external development partners.
There is still no regular operation with delivery drones anywhere in the USA either.
As in Europe, this is for the time being nothing more than a vision.
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