Photo: Royal Mail
British postal service Royal Mail is planning to scale up its use of drone tech to deliver its letters and parcels in a faster, more convenient, and environmentally responsible way, aiming to create over 50 new postal drone routes over the next three years.
Royal Mail teamed up with drone company Windracers to achieve its ambitious goal and plans to use the latter’s UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles) to provide a faster and more convenient service, especially for customers located in remote communities. Moreover, mail delivery by drone will significantly cut its carbon emissions, compared to the delivery solutions currently used, such as ferries or conventional aircraft and vehicles. Royal Mail already boasts of having the lowest CO2 emissions per parcel delivered, but this way, it will reduce them even more.
Royal Mail’s drone delivery service will first become operational on the Isles of Scilly, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, and the Hebrides. Four drone trials have already been conducted over the last 18 months, on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, on the aforementioned Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast, and on the Orkney Islands, between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay.
Last month, Royal Mail and Windracers conducted another trial using one of Windracer’s UAVs, which had to fly from the Tingwall Airport in Lerwick to Unst, Britain’s most northerly inhabited island. That translated into a 50-mile (80 km) flight each way but Windracers’ trial drone was able to deliver.
With a wingspan of 32.8 ft (10 meters), the UAV used in the trial is a twin-engine aircraft with a high-reliability autopilot system. It can withstand harsh weather conditions and can transport up to 220 lb (100 kg) of mail of all shapes and sizes, being capable of two daily return flights between the islands.
The 50 routes to be created over the next three years will be supported by up to 200 Windracers drones, although in the long run, the goal of the two is to be able to service all corners of the U.K. and expand that fleet to more than 500 mail-delivering drones.
Royal Mail’s drone delivery service will first become operational on the Isles of Scilly, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, and the Hebrides. Four drone trials have already been conducted over the last 18 months, on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, on the aforementioned Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast, and on the Orkney Islands, between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay.
Last month, Royal Mail and Windracers conducted another trial using one of Windracer’s UAVs, which had to fly from the Tingwall Airport in Lerwick to Unst, Britain’s most northerly inhabited island. That translated into a 50-mile (80 km) flight each way but Windracers’ trial drone was able to deliver.
With a wingspan of 32.8 ft (10 meters), the UAV used in the trial is a twin-engine aircraft with a high-reliability autopilot system. It can withstand harsh weather conditions and can transport up to 220 lb (100 kg) of mail of all shapes and sizes, being capable of two daily return flights between the islands.
The 50 routes to be created over the next three years will be supported by up to 200 Windracers drones, although in the long run, the goal of the two is to be able to service all corners of the U.K. and expand that fleet to more than 500 mail-delivering drones.
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