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A fully automated drone fleet will deliver urgently needed parts from the air to companies in Lüdenscheid, which has been heavily impacted by the A45-Rahmede bridge disaster, across the traffic jams.
© Christoph Reichwein/dpa
Over traffic jams and traffic chaos - fast, environmentally friendly.
A fully automated drone fleet is starting in Lüdenscheid to deliver parts that companies need.
Experts see many opportunities.
Lüdenscheid - A set of screwdrivers and a pair of pliers come from the air, as well as a few small parts for an industrial machine: A fully automated drone delivery service for companies started on Wednesday in Lüdenscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia - a German premiere, as the project partners emphasized.
With the country's first commercial scheduled flight operation and the specially developed transport drone Auriol, "the way is being cleared for fast and environmentally friendly everyday logistics from the air," say the drone manufacturer Third Element Aviation (3EA), the Lüdenscheid-based Koerschulte Group and the software developer HHLA Sky.
After a good two and a half years of test operations in the Sauerland, Auriol takes off on its maiden flight.
The drone flies over traffic jams and traffic chaos and can deliver up to 80 packages per day.
“It's not about cement bags for the construction site, but about important parts that are immediately missing in the companies,” says Marius Schröder from 3EA, who co-developed Auriol.
A special feature: the drones are not controlled individually
Employees from the service provider Koerschulte simply observe the flights and only intervene if there are deviations.
What's special: "One person can keep an eye on ten to twelve drones at the same time," explains Matthias Gronstedt from HHLA Sky. The company has developed the control center - a kind of control center.
This is a huge advance compared to the usual procedure with one pilot per individual drone.
Auriol can use a gripper to deposit or pick up packages with centimeter precision.
The project partners say that the Federal Aviation Authority (LBA) has granted approval for such scheduled logistics flights for the first time in Germany.
They want to quickly build more transport drones and are aiming for longer flight routes in Germany and Europe.
Now that the technology and safety have been thoroughly examined by the LBA, the three companies expect that they will quickly receive further approvals for the next planned routes.
Locally, such a delivery operation is possible anywhere “from Langeoog to Oslo”.
According to the information, the new transport drone can carry a load weight of up to 6.5 kilograms and a maximum flight time of 45 minutes.
A maximum speed of 65 kilometers per hour is possible, and a parachute is installed for safety.
The batteries can be operated with green electricity.
The air route is always the shortest, and the whole thing is particularly efficient, saving time, money and personnel.
The companies initially did not provide precise information about delivery prices.
However, emergency services for urgent parts are more expensive than regularly agreed deliveries, it was said.
Many experts generally see great opportunities and potential applications in Germany for many areas.
The association for unnamed aviation, UAV DACH, speaks of an “important milestone”.
The three partners from North Rhine-Westphalia see a “transport revolution in the air” initiated.
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Why Lüdenscheid of all places?
The city is located in the middle of South Westphalia, one of the strongest economic regions in Germany.
And Lüdenscheid is drastically affected by the frame bridge disaster on the A45.
Because of the motorway closure, traffic chaos and delivery delays are part of everyday life, and large losses in sales are complained about.
The future of logistics is up in the air, says Schröder.
Problems are simply overlooked, says managing director Norman Koerschulte.
Auriol only needed two minutes for the first route of just over a kilometer.
The Koerschulte Group wants to offer aerial service to as many of its approximately 3,000 customers from industry and trade as possible - and beyond.
There is more - expansion is planned
According to unmanned aviation expert Achim Friedl, the project in Lüdenscheid has high potential in the area of industrial logistics.
However, around a dozen projects with limited ranges are already underway in other areas - for example in emergency logistics, as Friedl describes: There is a drone transport in Hamburg between hospitals and pathology, for example for urgent blood and tissue samples, which is much faster than one Street delivery.
“Surveys also show a very high level of acceptance among the population.”
One thing or another is also going on in the private logistics sector.
Friedl considers automated drone flights to be a “trend of the times”.
It is difficult to predict what exactly has a future and what will be discontinued.
However, a fundamental rule always applies and remains indispensable: “Drones are obliged to avoid everyone else in air traffic.” dpa