The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Delivery Process

An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that can operate without human interventions. This type of vehicle is controlled by software that can control, navigate, and drive the vehicle. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or usually known as drone is an example of autonomous vehicle. It is an automatic fly device that can be used widely in many areas such as delivery, photography, agriculture and many more. Some companies that use drones in business to deliver orders to customers are Amazon, Domino’s Pizza, Ukrainian Postal Service, as well as Workhouse. This method is being implemented because this machine can help the businesses to fulfill the on-demand delivery. For example, Prime Air service that has been provided by Amazon can deliver the parcels to customers in between 30 minutes.

The advancements in today’s technology have shown that this machine could make changes in delivery process in the future. According to Nicole retailer will only use drone if it is cost-efficient since the expenses of e-commerce businesses’ are actually higher than physical stores because the truck delivery required labor. In the future, it is predicted that drones will be used by most of the e-commerce businesses since the company do not have to spend more on delivery costs that include human workforce, which are the drivers. Not only that, retail store is also predicted to use drones to fulfill the short notice orders from customers such as orders of medicine from the sick customers at home. The drones also could change the operation of the business in the future since it do not have to rely on human delivery which has the high potential to be late because the business can control the drone delivery method that is being implemented. As stated by Sally (2015), drones produced by a company that is based in America, Flirtey can fly up to 32 kilometers and carry around 2.4 kilogram of weight. In the future, drones will be able to fly more than 32 kilometers while carrying heavier weight of parcels. The applications of drone in delivery method have huge impacts on privacy and sustainability.

Firstly, the method of drone delivery will raise consumers’ privacy concerns because it will trace the Global Positioning System (GPS) in order to determine the exact location of the receivers. The device will keep the sensitive and privacy information without customers’ knowledge. For example, Amazon is planning to scan the customers’ home by using the drone during the delivery process to determine what products are needed and interested by the customers. Not only that, the information of the buyers like the type of vehicles, the exterior and interior design of the house, as well as the number of people inside the house will be kept in the system. Amazon will use all the gathered information, which is meant to be private to discover all the related products that the customers might want or interest to buy and send the catalogue to them via newsletter. They are planning to use this method to attract more customers to shop in their online store. This method is so unethical since it will violate the consumers’ rights and does not respect consumers’ privacy.

Secondly, the usage of drone in shipping also has the positive impact on sustainability. Sustainability of the environment can be ensured since some businesses are no longer use trucks to ship goods to the buyers. For example, when the businesses use drones as a delivery method in their organizations, the number of vehicles on the road will reduce. This example has shown that the usage of drone will reduce the emission carbon dioxide as well as greenhouse gases, which is harmful for the environment (Desiree, 2018). Furthermore, this flying machine also will preserve the sustainability since it is battery operated and only needs electric power to keep functioning. It can be seen that this machine only use the renewable resources compared to the majority of other vehicles, which are mainly use the non-renewable resources like diesel and petroleum to keep operating. The use of renewable sources will contribute to the less global warming including clean and safe environment. In addition, drones also can ensure the sustainability of the businesses because it requires low cost of production since they do not have to pay the deliverymen’s wages. Low expenses will increase the profitability of the businesses and they can invest the money into something that can give higher return to their company. Moreover, the usage of drones also consume less period of time since it can avoid the traffic congestions compared to the truck. The fast delivery services that have been provided will improve the performance of the business because it gets recognition by the customers. Strong customer relationship will build a group of loyal customers’ that give full supports to the company. The Ukrainian postal service or also known as UkrPoshta had collaborated with the drone company based in Israeli in order to provide drone delivery service to their customers. This company decided to implement this service because it only costs $0.15 per delivery. As an example, the drones used by UkrPoshta also can speed up to 70 kilometer per hour which is faster than truck. Next, the customers also can decide the drop-off point of the parcels by downloading a specific application on the smartphones. Not only that, the customers also can decide who is going to receive the parcel if they are not at home. These will ensure the viability of the company to keep operating until the future since the customers are satisfied with the provided services.

The transformation of drone and its impacts have net benefit to humanity since the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. It can be seen that drones can make human’s tasks become easier despite the disadvantages. In conclusion, it is obvious that drone has the high potential to develop in shipping domain because it is time-efficient, cost-efficient and require less labor in the organizations, which can contribute to an increase in the profits. It also will ensure the sustainability for both environment and the company even though some privacy issues are raised.