Bergsma, Johan (2021) Drone in last mile delivery services. Master thesis.
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Abstract
In recent years a new delivery method has appeared on headlines of news articles, as well as in scientific literature. This delivery method is delivery by drone. Although drone development is still in an early stage, there are more and more fields and applications where drones are being implemented as part of a business strategy. However it is also clear that there are quite some changes to current delivery drones necessary before widespread drone implementation will become a reality. Therefore it remains ambiguous if drones will actually be implemented into delivery systems, or if the future of delivery drones is limited to a small number of functions. This is what this research aims to find out; to what extent will delivery drones be implemented as part of last mile delivery traffic in the Netherlands in the coming decade? In this research an estimation of the current potential of delivery drones has been created by using a framework with several aspects identified in the theoretical framework. With this information it is found out that drones will need major technological upgrades and space to operate before widespread implementation as part of a delivery chain is realistic. With current weather resistance and limitations by no-fly areas drone operations are often not a possibility. Apart from this framework this research also includes an analysis of semi-structured interviews with companies that have been experimenting with drones, as well as experts in the field of transportation research and drones. With the information from these interviews it becomes clear that there are still major barriers in drone technology and regulations that prevent the first delivery drones from being implemented at this moment in time. However as time progresses some of these barriers will diminish, making the first commercial delivery drone flight realistic. For some functions, such as in the medical field and in high value high priority deliveries, drone delivery has great potential for the near future in the Netherlands. Widespread implementation in parcel and food delivery is however very unlikely for the short term, and to an extent also for the long term. This is because public acceptance for drones in these functions is likely to be low, and other methods, such as delivery by vans, driving robots or bikes, are likely to be more economically viable in a large majority of deliveries.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Economic Geography: Regional Competitiveness and Trade (track) |
| Supervisor: | Tillema, T. |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Jun 2021 12:23 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Jun 2021 12:23 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3476 |
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