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\nChina-based DJI \u2013 the world\u2019s largest UAV manufacturer and supplier \u2013 has just entered the U.S. drone delivery market.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bold move that comes amid growing competition from major US- and Europe-based companies that have secured important regulatory waivers from the FAA in recent months, allowing them to make longer distance deliveries, potentially at scale, on a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) basis.<\/p>\n
All of these companies have been making package deliveries – in some cases, tens of thousands \u2013 for years.\u00a0 Some like Wing and Zipline, have strong brand recognition and enjoy durable partnerships with Walmart and other major retail chains.<\/p>\n
This is unfamiliar territory for DJI, which normally enjoys a leg up on its drone competition.\u00a0 From fire-fighting to precision agriculture, its drones are state-of-the-art, offering superior design technology and the most versatile applications.\u00a0 By contrast, the company has relatively little experience with retail deliveries \u2013 and none outside China\u2019s highly favorable regulatory environment.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s not all: DJI also faces growing criticism and opposition from U.S. industry stakeholders, many of whom believe the company enjoys an unfair competitive advantage over U.S. suppliers.\u00a0 The AUVSI, which advocates for the drone\u00a0 industry, is pushing Congress and the White House to crack down on DJI, limiting its access to the U.S. market.<\/p>\n
Can DJI actually win major contracts and carve out its own niche in what appears to be such a forbidding environment?<\/p>\n
The answer may well be yes.\u00a0 For one thing, DJI isn\u2019t targeting the small package market, where payloads are typically as low as 3-10 pounds.\u00a0 Its flagship UAV, the FlyCart30, can carry up to 60 pounds of goods, which means its partners are likely to include auto parts stores and some smaller industrial resupply outlets \u2013 not just the retail food, restaurant and kitchen supply chains that other drone companies primarily serve.\u00a0 Demand in this sector is rising \u2013 and competent and qualified suppliers are few.<\/p>\n
The FlyCart30 also offers a flexible, dual delivery mode \u2013 it can hover and lower its cargo on a winch, or it can land and wait for manual offloading.\u00a0 After landing, the drone\u2019s also available for fresh reloading, and could even shuttle back- and-forth between different store locales or warehouses, without returning to a single point of origin.<\/p>\n
This two-way delivery capability could prove extremely useful in the small-to-medium sized business cargo market, including the medical supply market.\u00a0 In fact, it could one day give Zipline, which currently enjoys a distinctive niche for medical supply deliveries \u2013 for one-way deliveries only \u2013 a run for its money.<\/p>\n
The FLYCart30 also boasts an \u201call-weather\u201d capability.\u00a0 It includes stabilizing sensors that allow the craft to compensate for inclement weather, especially heavy winds and rain.\u00a0 That could make it especially useful in higher altitudes and in more isolated, difficult-to-reach rural areas.\u00a0 Most smaller \u201clast mile\u201d delivery drones are geared to densely populated cities and suburbs.\u00a0 Score another competitive advantage for DJI.<\/p>\n
There are a number of other companies that hope to conquer the heavier business cargo market, including Ameriflight and its drone partner Matternet, which have received the BVLOS go-ahead from the FAA in recent months.\u00a0 But DJI isn\u2019t trying to compete with them.\u00a0 Heavy cargo deliveries of 100 pounds and above require a larger fixed wing aircraft.\u00a0 The FlyCart30 is much the same kind of rotary quadcopter you see elsewhere \u2013 but one that is larger, more durable, and more versatile, with additional capabilities — allowing it to serve a broad range of suppliers.\u00a0 That\u2019s just what you would expect from a market leader like DJI.<\/p>\n
DJI could well receive FAA approval \u2013 at least, eventually.\u00a0 But only if a number of barriers and obstacles to its entry into the drone market \u2013 some technical and market-based, others, perhaps, more political \u2013 can be overcome.\u00a0 The FlyCart30 needs to pass the usual FAA performance and safety checks and be deemed fully \u201cairworthy.\u201d\u00a0 In theory, that\u2019s only a matter of time.<\/p>\n
The company, for its part, remains upbeat.\u00a0 \u201cWe are optimistic that FlyCart 30 will become a trusted solution for aerial delivery, solving complex terrain and terminal transportation problems efficiently, economically, and most importantly, safely from the air,\u201d Christina Zhang, DJI\u2019s\u00a0 senior director for corporate strategy, said this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China-based DJI \u2013 the world\u2019s largest UAV manufacturer and supplier \u2013 has just entered the U.S. drone delivery market.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bold move that comes amid growing competition from major US- and Europe-based companies that have secured important regulatory waivers from the FAA in recent months, allowing them to make longer distance deliveries, potentially at… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}