Table of Content



1. OVERVIEW
1.1. Catalyst
1.2. Summary

2. THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE DRONE DELIVERY HYPE
2.1. Ambitions for wide adoption of drone deliveries are biased on the need to achieve cost-savings
2.1.1. The cost advantage of drone deliveries is overestimated
2.1.2. A range bias overestimates drone delivery potential

3. DRONE SERVICE DEVELOPMENTS ARE FAR FROM WIDE ADOPTION
3.1. Drone delivery services still at pilot stage
3.1.1. Google’s Wing and FedEx
3.1.2. UPS Flight Forward
3.1.3. DHL Express and Parcelcopter drone service
3.1.4. Japanese Rakuten and China’s JD.com and parcel drone delivery service

4. SLOW REGULATORY PROGRESS AND UNSOLVED TECHNICAL ISSUES PROVE DRONES’ LIMITED POTENTIAL
4.1. Slow progress on meeting regulation requirements continue to hinder wide deployment of drones
4.2. Lack of consistency on fundamental navigation solutions
4.3. Not every day is a sunny day for drones
4.4. Consumers’ concerns over reliability and safety of drones are valid
4.4.1. Accessibility of delivery zones and security risks, a major drawback
4.4.2. Safety risks to increase at large scale operation
4.4.3. Noise pollution, a crucial factor overlooked
4.5. The future of delivery services does not lie on air, but only for a few exceptions

5. APPENDIX
5.1. Abbreviations and acronyms
5.2. Sources
5.3. Further reading

6. ASK THE ANALYST

7. ABOUT MARKETLINE



List of Figures


Figure 1: Amazon Prime Air drone
Figure 2: Google’s Wing drone
Figure 3: UPS Flight Forward drones
Figure 4: DHL Parcelcopter drones
Figure 5: Rakuten’s Tenku drone


List of Tables