Truck Fleets Will Soon Use Drones

Across the globe, drones have risen in popularity in a way that promises to revolutionize the way freight logistics happen across the world. We have already witnessed this shift in the engineering and construction sector where they have snapped realistic aerial photographs of the layout. Fleets of trucks can benefit from this new technology.

It's a more cost-effective solution, and we could soon see drones enter the trucking and shipping industries as well. What are some of the areas where this technology will be used?

Storage Infrastructure: Optimized

Ever inspected the infrastructure of your warehouse? Outside the people, you would want to look at the equipment inside the building. Drones have emerged the most efficient way to perform a building inspection, and better yet, it lets you examine every square inch of the structure.

This includes the roof and walls. A worker doing this from a ladder or climbing on the roof could put his life at risk, but a drone lets you do this without risking human life and limb. 

Inventory Surveillance and Infrastructure

Drones have moved into the cargo shipping industry to monitor freights with high-value cargo, and unlike the stationary security camera that criminals can disable, drones with mobile capability and a high-end camera and data transfer makes this much more complicated.

Thieves will have a harder time tackling it, and even if an incident does take place, the GPS system on board the drones make it easy to track down the source. If you combine this footage with traditional surveillance, you double the security and make it harder for criminals to make a profit off your freighters. 

As of now, it has mostly seen use among shipyards, but this could also be applied at giant warehouses and depots. However, keep in mind that flying at night requires you to have a waiver from the FAA. In addition, always make sure you haven't taken to operating in a restricted airspace.

Monitor the Workplace

Warehouses often contain hard-to-reach areas, and it can make it impractical or even dangerous for human workers to try to reach it. As a result, it leaves drones with the opportunity to monitor your inventory, personnel and infrastructure in ways that might otherwise be hard to oversee in a traditional sense.

Even with human observers or stationary cameras, it's harder than with drones. Loading docks have frequently become the site of accidents, which becomes an opportunity to bring an eye to the sky so that you can make sure proper safety protocol is being followed. 

Last-mile Logistics

The most famous possible use for drones comes to the trucking industry in last-mile logistics. People are still testing this application, but eventually, there will come a time when drones will work for home delivery and supply-chain delivery.

Currently, trucks drive to urban neighborhoods and deploy a fleet of cargo-laden drones, but the regulations support the maximum freight capacity of 10 pounds, and the drones will have to fly to the address of the person.

The carrying capacity shows the current limitations of drones, but we can already see how last-mile delivery could be used to save shipping and trucking companies a lot of money since the last mile often costs a lot, and it isn't the most efficient.

Across all industries drones have shown promise, and with trucking fleets, it's no exception. A well-executed drone program in the trucking industry could lead to higher safety standards and better security on the work site.

Still, we have a long way to go with the regulations, and the technology must come a little further before it has a real effect. If you'd like to learn more about fleet management, contact us today. We'd love to work with you.