The commercial drone race

Desperately need a textbook? This Australian drone is coming to this rescue!via PandoDaily

That Amazon is readying a fleet of drones to drop off packages to customers seems like yet another example of the company’s cutting edge. The project could go live as early as 2015, after the US approves laws for commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but a slew of companies around the world are already leaps ahead of Amazon.

Australian startup Flirtey is in the unmanned aerial-vehicle business, and it's partnered with a company called Zookal to effectively create the Amazon.com of textbooks that delivers by way of drone instead of UPS.

Australian authorities were among the first in the world to deem commercial-drone usage legal, so Flirtey got to work finding ways to apply the technology. By partnering with textbook company Zookal, Flirtey will use its drones to deliver Zookal customers' orders directly to them.
It previously cost Zookal an average $8.60 in shipping costs to fill an order. Now that drones will be handling delivery, however, that average shipping cost drops to an estimated $0.80 per order.
Here's how TechCrunch's Catherine Shu described it:

"Zookal will use Flirtey to send parcels for free and claims deliveries can be made in as little as two or three minutes, compared to two or three days for traditional shipping methods. Upon arrival at an outdoor delivery destination, Flirtey’s drones hover and lower the parcel through a custom delivery mechanism that is attached to a retractable cord. Real-time GPS tracking of each drone’s location will be available through the Flirtey app for smartphones."

Intrigued? Check out this video with the founders to learn more.

While the Australian flight authority still has to approve Zookal’s plans, commercial drones are allowed to fly within 122 meters (400 feet) of the ground.

Australia’s looser regulations could help make it a commercial drone pioneer. ”As one of the few countries in the world to allow commercial drone activities, Australia is uniquely placed to create a new drone industry and shape the development of regulations in this space,” Zookal CEO Ahmed Haider told The Verge. The company’s joint-venture partner, a startup called Vimbra, is now signing up other businesses for drone deliveries, reports PandoDaily.

Breathing down Zookal’s neck is Shunfeng Express, one of China’s biggest parcel delivery services, which began testing drone delivery back in September. The city police where SF Express is testing its drones, which can fly as high as 100 meters, are so far permitting the drone flights. According to Chinese media reports, SF Express insiders say the company has successfully completed drone testing (links in Chinese).

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