Aramex's drone debut
Could Aramex's test signal a new chapter Middle East drone delivery?
Promising news from Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman, as leading logistics services provider and courier company Aramex announces the completion of drone delivery tests in partnership with UVL Robotics. Could this new Aramex test signal a new chapter for drone delivery in the Middle East?
The Menlo Park-headquartered drone company has been running drone delivery trials in Oman's capital area since early this year, after reaching breakthrough agreements with multiple government stakeholders and regulators to operate its beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) unmanned aircraft system. This week's news is promising because the partnership between Aramex - with its regional footprint and long-established relationships with the aviation and logistics ecosystems - and UVL Robotics - with both the advanced technology and the successful proof of concept in Oman - could finally help move the needle on BVLOS drone delivery services in the Middle East.
Aramex is no stranger to technology, being an early adopter of ecommerce and a successful developer of software to power its business. More recently, the global logistics firm has increasingly been leveraging artificial intelligence, Big Data and geo location technologies to optimise operations and deliveries. However, over the past 18 months Aramex has significantly bolstered its innovation and technology teams, appointing ex-fetchr director Angad Singh as Global Director - Innovation in January of this year. It's a sign of things to come and gives the company a greater capability to test and trial new technologies and services such as the delivery drone in Muscat.
According to Aramex, this week's drone test falls under the company's new 'Future Delivery Program' which aims at leveraging the next generation of last-mile delivery solutions including drones and autonomous vehicles to boost delivery efficiencies, improve customer satisfaction, and generate cost savings in last-mile delivery. The company's vision is to fully transition its fleet to emission-free electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Aramex and UVL Robotics see drone delivery as both a way to cut transit times by half in complex routes, while reducing CO2 emissions.
Aramex now plans to conduct drone delivery testing across the Middle East region, plus other core markets where it operates, before scaling up its drone delivery offering for customers and deploying the service across all its markets. It also plans to trial a variety of other electric and autonomous vehicles for last-mile deliveries.
The Aramex drone tests took place in the mountainous areas south of the Omani capital, with the Aramex promotional video released this week showing a delivery to Muscat Bay. The luxury residential development south of Muscat city is the primary location for the UVL Robotics trials that began in early 2022, designated by the government because the area (which includes Al Khairan, Sifah.Yanket and Yeti) is relatively remote and underpopulated. It seems that the authorities concerned have not yet allowed the drone trial to expand into other more densely urbanised areas, which also have more aerial obstacles and air traffic.
Oman deserves credit for helping to pave the way for extensive drone delivery trials, but its security and aviation authorities clearly share the same concerns as their counterparts around the GCC. Despite being well positioned, Aramex and UVL Robotics will face regulatory challenges wherever they plan to trial delivery services in the region using BVLOS drones. Many such concepts have been publicised over the past five years, but the stars have not yet aligned to allow any of these to take place. With this said, many authorities across the region will certainly be open to learn from Oman's experience and so this may indeed lead to more carefully defined drone delivery trials elsewhere. It's definitely a start!
Learn more about this story:
Read the Aramex press release.
Watch the Aramex drone promotion video.
Read Middle East AI News 06-Jan-22. (Linkedin version)
Read Middle East AI News 17-Feb-22. (Linkedin version)
This article first appeared on Linkedin.