The sky’s the limit for commercial drones

While some emerging technologies fly under the radar during their early stages of development, others ascend with breathtaking speed as they become fixtures in our lives.

Don’t look (up) now, but the already white-hot market for commercial drones will soon be soaring to even greater heights.

An array of drone technologies are everywhere these days: delivering medical supplies, inspecting infrastructures, surveying crops, filming blockbuster movies, dropping off shopping purchases — even delivering pizzas.

But the market for commercial drones is actually just getting started. In fact, I believe we’re approaching a golden age for the global drone market, which Drone Industry Insights forecasts will be worth $55.8 billion by 2030.

A new wave of product and regulatory changes are taking shape that are helping to propel this next era of growth. Here’s a brief look at three examples of industry innovations that will enable commercial drones to deliver remarkable new possibilities for countries, companies, consumers and societies everywhere.

New drone designs will improve delivery

Although drones are already delivering small packages to some customers, entirely new drone systems will soon bring them much closer to our doorstep.

Most delivery drones currently work by parachuting in small packages. This has been highly successful for delivering vaccines to remote communities in Rwanda, Ghana or India, for example. But to-date, this model hasn’t been nearly as suited to serve densely populated areas, for obvious reasons: drones have typically required ample amounts of obstacle-free landing space and have only been effective for delivering items that can survive the drop.

But new drone systems — such as those developed by drone delivery pioneer Zipline — are jettisoning the parachute and will instead tether a lightweight container to its drones that will be gently lowered to the ground. This small container will be packed with cameras and sensors to help it avoid obstacles as it descends; the company promises it will be “whisper quiet” as it delivers a package right outside the customer’s front door.

New drone designs like Zipline’s will also aim to make last-mile logistics much more efficient in urban areas – and will serve as a significantly greener alternative to traditional truck and van delivery.??

Self-docking, airborne charging systems will help make drones autonomous

Most drone flights today involve a human operator monitoring the journey from some location. And once back on the ground, even the smartest drones remain helpless until their batteries are physically replaced or recharged.?

New types of self-docking technology are being designed to reduce human involvement and cost-effectively automate the docking and recharging process.?

The Matternet Station, for example, is an automated landing space and payload control tower that provides a safe place for a cargo drone to land, swap out its battery and deliver its cargo. The tower also keeps the goods safe from weather and would-be thieves until authorized individuals arrive to pick up the package.

Airborne recharging is another exciting innovation in this area. In 2022, researchers in Denmark successfully trialed technology that enables drones to connect themselves to nearby power lines to recharge.

Both airborne and ground-based systems aim to make drones almost completely autonomous over short ranges, which would vastly expand the number of use cases.

Open-source software is opening up the market

Open-source standards for drones have already been helping drive industry-wide innovation for over a decade. But now they’re proving especially important as drone startups see an opportunity to expand and compete with much larger industry innovators. Of all commercial drones sold in 2021, over 70% of non-DJI drones relied on open-source technologies, according to research by DroneAnalyst, a specialist drone research agency.

Drone flight controllers built with open-source software require a significantly smaller investment for manufacturers, making it much easier for smaller companies to enter the market with new ideas. It even allows larger enterprises to deploy different systems much more efficiently because the open-source code has already been published and commonly tested — making essential tasks like vetting cybersecurity risks quicker and more streamlined.

The regulatory landscape for drones is evolving too

It’s key to note that new product innovations alone won’t fuel commercial drones’ continued trajectory. As is the case with many new technologies, it’s important for legislators, regulators and governments around the world to strike the right balance between encouraging drone innovation and ensuring safe introduction and growth of the technology.

That’s why I’m also incredibly encouraged by several recent regulatory developments and other new operating standards that have been unfolding across the drone market’s global landscape. They’ll be critical to the industry’s future growth and will help open up our skies to safer, more efficient and valuable use cases for commercial drones around the world.

These and other developments are all reasons why I believe it’s an excellent time for business leaders to start exploring ways drone technologies may soon factor into the future of their enterprises.

I’ll discuss the significance of these changing regulations and standards taking place in the US, Europe and beyond — and industry innovators’ continuing quest to make drones fully autonomous — in our next edition of Innovation Re:Imagined.

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The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

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