Spanish postal operator Correos has started testing parcel delivery via drones in the mountainous northern province of Asturias to assess the feasibility of the technology to improve postal and parcel delivery services in rural regions.
Correos’ starting point for the delivery trials with drones is to provide better access to areas that are hard to reach, whether it is due to severe weather conditions or complicated access by road. “This represents a tool for postmen to better perform their work and expose themselves less to the areas that are difficult to access,” the company explained.
The village of Sotres in the Asturian municipality of Cabrales, located inside the Picos de Europa National Park, was chosen for the drone delivery pilot as it is difficult to access by road and is often left isolated during winter by snow and ice.
The tests were carried out from two different locations, with one being situated 3 km and the other 2.5 km from the village itself as they are more accessible and located on the delivery routes. These routes were identified in collaboration with the local postmen. Prior to the tests, Correos requested all the necessary permissions from local authorities.
The drone is a hexacopter consisting of six engines with propellers that can carry goods up to 1.5 kg and can withstand winds of 40 km/h. Guided by GPS, it is completely autonomous in its movements. From the moment of departure, it follows the route via GPS without the need of a human operator. However, an operator is still deployed for security reasons to be able to take control of the device whenever needed.
In case the drone loses the radio signal from the transmitter, it is equipped with a safety system that forces it to come back via the same route. The system can also be activated by the operator any time. From the technical point of view, this drone can be easily operated by postmen because its route, the flight altitude and the stops are programmed by the software.
The pilot scheme allows Correos to test the limits of the technology in a real environment with a real problem and define the processes and resources needed to implement the service in the future with the aim to help the postman during work improving the security processes.
Correos is joining other postal operators testing drones for parcel deliveries including Deutsche Post DHL, France’s La Poste, Swiss Post, Finland’s Posti, Singapore Post and other private logistics operators such as Amazon.
As a state postal operator, Correos ensures the Universal Postal Service all over Spain guaranteeing collection and delivery of shipments five days a week. This gets difficult in certain areas because there are villages in Spain that are isolated and difficult to access by postmen by road, especially in winter. The use of drones could thus improve the delivery service. Moreover, in emergency cases the drone technology could be useful to deliver an urgently needed item, Correos added.
