Our research vision for the E-Drone project was to examine the potential of integrated logistics solutions involving Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, commonly known as drones) operating alongside traditional and sustainable last-mile delivery solutions (e.g., vans, bicycle couriers), in terms of the effects on energy consumption, emissions, costs and transit times.
This involved generating fundamental new understanding of how drone logistics operations will function in shared airspace in harmony with traditional, crewed aircraft under various regulations. The project adopted a case study approach based on transportation of medical payloads (e.g., patient pathology specimens, pharmacy products, blood for transfusion) within the UK National Health Service (NHS), involving both simulated and real-world trials, with a particular focus on the Solent region.
Vans are the fastest-growing category of licensed road vehicle in the UK, significantly impacting on detrimental atmospheric emissions (e.g., carbon dioxide; CO2). Vans performing service functions make up the large proportion of activity and, given the increasing access constraints imposed on freight vehicles by city authorities, alternative operating practices are being seriously investigated by logistics providers.
Our research into how drones and land logistics systems can be combined and managed has provided fundamental new insight into the effects of regulation and operating criteria on the efficiency of mixed-mode logistics fleets. Drones are increasingly seen as a new mode to assist in last-mile logistics, offering the potential to reduce service times, energy consumption, and emissions, with transport of NHS patient pathology specimens being seen as a realistic domain that could utilise drones on a commercial scale. With the NHS spending an estimated £2.5 billion annually on pathology logistics alone, and with patient numbers rising, there is a need to re-think how logistics costs could be reduced, along with energy demand and emissions, whilst maintaining or improving the bleed-to-diagnosis times for patients.
The drone global market is estimated to have grown from $2 billion in 2016, to nearly $127 billion in 2020 and is expected to have a considerable impact on the use of both controlled and uncontrolled airspace around the world. The greatest barriers to drone adoption into logistics fleets are the current lack of integration of drones alongside crewed aircraft within civil airspace and safety concerns regarding the operation of drones Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) of an operator. The true savings in energy, emissions, and service times, and the overall viability of drones in the logistics domain will only be realised when the regulations governing their use and the operational implications have been defined and quantified.
Grote M, Oakey A, Pilko A, Smith A and Cherrett T (2023) Drones – The Scope for Integration into Multi-modal Urban Logistics Services. In: The Routledge Handbook of Urban Logistics [Monios J, Budd L, Ison S (eds)], Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
