Drone deliveries: Regional and remote Queensland tipped to have parcels delivered from skies in 2016
A Brisbane academic believes within twelve months drones could deliver parcels in rural and remote locations of Queensland.
Australia Post has recently announced it will begin trialling drones to deliver parcels across the country within 12 months.
Parcels, weighing up to 2 kilograms, could be flown up to 25 kilometres to homes throughout Australia.
Operations Manager at Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), Andrew Keir, said drones would be seen in regional skies before they appeared in urban locations.
“It’s an interesting move and one that has captured the imagination of many global companies, it’s not just Australia Post investigating this,” he told 612 ABC Brisbane’s Spencer Howson.
The companies need to be able to interact in the airspace like any other airspace user does
Andrew Keir, Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation
“We’ve seen Swiss Post and Singapore Post doing trials, and DHL in Germany, as well as Google and Amazon all fiercely contesting this space and investigating the viability of drone delivery.”
Mr Keir said due to Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations, parcels would only be delivered in open airspace.
“I would be cautious to say that it would be happening in the next 12 months, particularly in the urban corridor,” he said.
“I think in the next 12 months we will see more extensive trials in rural and remote areas as Australia Post works through with CASA to become a certified operator to do it in the commercial sense.”
