Mercedes-Benz is looking at mounting
automated flying drones onto a new line of electric vans as part of a 500
million-euro ($562 million or roughly Rs. 3,732 crores) investment aimed at
speeding delivery times for online orders.
The small pilotless aircraft would
be part of a suite of on-board systems, including digital sorting equipment,that
could cut both costs and delivery times in half for the final portion of a
package's journey, the carmaker said Wednesday at a presentation in Stuttgart,
Germany. The two drones can each fly items weighing as much as 2 kilograms (4.4
pounds) as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles), enabling service to
difficult-to-reach to places.
The concept is among the Daimler
unit's efforts to help corporate customers speed product transport as volumes
rise because of the boom in electronic commerce. Deutsche Post's DHL division
and United Parcel Service are also looking at how to ensure items are delivered
on the first attempt even when the consumer isn't home. Online retailers such
as Amazon.com are
experimenting with handling deliveries themselves.
"The business in our sector is
changing dramatically, so we're looking far beyond our core product and getting
into new markets," Volker Mornhinweg, who heads Mercedes's vans business,
said in a statement. "We want to make vans an intelligent, connected data
center on wheels."
The investments will be spaced over
five years. Mercedes didn't outline a time frame for when the drones or
technologies like a robotic arm for sorting parcels inside the van might become
commercially available.
Many industries are researching
potential uses of drones beyond dropping the latest Internet shopping on
people's doorsteps, such as railroad-track inspections, spotting criminals on
the run or organ delivery for hospitals, though a regulatory structure for the
aircraft is still in its infancy.
"The growth in transportation
means we have to change our processes accordingly," said Stefan Maurer, head
of Mercedes's future transport systems for vans.
The drones on the Mercedes concept
are fixed to the van's roof above a hatch that opens to the vehicle's inside.
Made of carbon fiber and aluminum, the mini-copters with four propellers
measure about 55 centimeters (22 inches) across. The aircraft were developed
jointly with Swiss partner Matternet, and similar models have already helped
carry medicine to people in difficult terrain, Mercedes said.
When a van reaches the area where
the drone is supposed to take off, a robotic arm in the cargo area moves
parcels inside a special box to the hatch, which opens automatically for the
drone to pick up the item. Using GPS, the aircraft flies to a landing spot set
by the customer, Mercedes said.
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