Introducing the first Drone Logistics Ecosystem
Melbourne, Paris, and Singapore: Freespace Operations, Dragonfly Pads, and AirGo Design today announced the introduction of a Drone Logistics Ecosystem to address the evolving drone logistics market for urban, regionally and at sea mid-mile and last mile deliveries. The aim of the Drone Logistics is to work on standardization of the drone delivery technologies by working on innovative solutions such as the delivery systems, vertiport universal charging stations, safety, and reliability etc.
In a recent report by Deloitte, the drone delivery industry was expected to grow to a $58 billion industry by 2035. The current courier, postal and delivery industry was valued at $300 billion in 2019 and drones are expected to play a significant role in not only growing this market, but also in making it more sustainable, by replacing together with electric bikes & scooters, vans and trucks, the current petrol and diesel engine vehicles in use today. Currently, the drone delivery industry is at its inception stage, and with the rapid growth of 50% CAGR, which has attracted many entrepreneurs and investors from aviation and beyond to join the cause.
AirGo Design’s COO: Dr Ali Jahanshahi said “we are at the dawn of introduction of drone delivery industry, something that was considered sci-fi a decade ago. COVID19 pandemic has catalyzed this industry, accelerating drone entrepreneurship- enticing investment and pressurizing aviation regulators to setup certification parameters.
Drawing from our experience in lightweight composite product development in the aviation industry. AirGo is developing a lightweight landing gear system with automated drop-and-leave capabilities, to work with AirGo Design’s 9L standardised ultralight smart Droneboxes. This is the solution for the drone delivery operators, to extend the flight range and payload of their drones for automated delivery with GPS traceability for a safe and reliable goods/parcel/medical delivery”.
Dragonfly Pads CEO, Ms. Sissel Thorstensen said “Today less than 3% of the investment in the drone ecosystem is dedicated to infrastructures for drones. DragonFly Pads, a French start-up, will provide turn-key solutions for drone takeoff and landing, cargo handling including the AirGo Design DroneBox cargo boxes, and maintenance through the deployment of a grid of flexible, safe, and cost-effective vertipads. The pads will be strategically located on underused public and private real estate. DragonFly Pads has already established a proof of concept at the Marché de Rungis, which is supported by the Région Ile-de-France as a pilot project.”
Freespace Operations CEO, Mr. Ken King said “The drone delivery & logistics market has been likened to the glory days of 1930’s aviation. Solutions are being marketed based on their uniqueness rather than their ability to solve a broad range of problems. This hampers efforts to obtain regulatory approval and paths to certification. The Callisto 50 drone is not marketed based on some unique characteristic or appearance, it is an aircraft applied to a wide range of tasks and applications with a reputation of being able to get the job done day in, day out. Like the Callisto the AirGo Design Dronebox solution is flexible and robust. The AirGo Design DroneBox cargo box is able to deliver payloads with modular multipurpose smart containers, allowing our clients to both make good on their near-term goals while effectively allowing future expansions of higher payload delivery throughput.”
The three companies have come together to create the Drone Logistics Ecosystem for drone delivers specifically to address the mid-mile and last-mile B2B market with the aim to bring onboard existing courier and cargo delivery companies, hospitals, etc., to ensure safe and same-day delivery of items by air, land, and sea.
The Drone Logistics Ecosystem is an international multidisciplinary network of companies, universities, and government entities working to stimulate collaboration and standardization in the Drone Logistic industry. The aim of the Drone Logistics Ecosystem is to bring together these businesses, academics, regulators, and financiers into the same space to stimulate progress and innovation within the drone delivery industry. Many of the companies in the industry are early-stage start-ups with limited access to funding, manpower and expertise, so the Drone Logistics Ecosystem will serve as a sharing platform for companies to lend their expertise for joint-development of products or for working as consulting or sub-contractors, and for any format of cross-disciplinary/border collaboration.
The benefits of the Drone Logistics Ecosystem include.
· Inclusivity for all players in the industry with an open Drone Logistics Ecosystem.
· Standardization globally to ensure the smooth and efficient movement of goods from the factory to the end customer globally.
· A win-win for all participants in this emerging industry and the delivery and courier industry, and more importantly, the customers.
About the founder members:
AirGo Designs Pte. Ltd. was founded is a Singapore in 2013, with the aim to introduce innovative lightweight solutions for the aviation industry using cutting-edge composite technologies to replace metal in heavy-duty primary/secondary aerostructures. AirGo technology is currently being used in aviation industry and beyond in automotive, advanced air mobility and electronics. Over the years, AirGo has been featured in 200+ news articles in 20 different languages. And has won multiple awards and prizes in design & engineering, material innovation and sustainability. AirGo engineering team has designed a universal multirotor landing gear system integrated with safe and reliable automated drop-and-leave releasing mechanism, including 9L standardised ultralight, recyclable, and smart drone boxes.
Dragonfly Pads is a French company, who provide turn-key solutions for drone landing and maintenance through the deployment of a grid of flexible, safe, and cost-effective vertiports. The pads will be strategically located on underused public and private real estate. Development of turn-key all-inclusive mobile and ecofriendly pads enabling landing, charging, servicing, and storing of drones. DragonFly Pads is led by a team of experienced and successful executives developing both hardware and software vertipads to service the commercial drones which is expected to reach over 400 000 commercial drones in Europe by 2030 and DragonFly Pads is actively engaged in partnerships with well-established players across Europe and now globally.
Freespace Operations is an Australian owned and operated manufacturer, delivering world leading industrial heavy lift multirotor drone systems to the defense & commercial sectors. Freespace Operations focus on small to medium-sized multirotor systems with their flagship heavy lifter Calisto 50 multirotor drone offering global best performance and features allowing up to 25 kg of payload capacity and multirole capabilities. The Callisto core philosophy is modularity with multiple power options available including high energy density battery and series petrol hybrid systems, quick change payloads, advanced ship-based takeoff and landing marine capability and long-term maintenance while also being ‘Evergreen’ allowing for both hardware and software upgrades along the full life of the aircraft.
