Drone deliveries take off in rural regions of Wuhan

By scanning a QR code at a service station, Li Xinpeng had his parcels delivered by an unmanned vehicle, thanks to the launch of the first rural drone delivery route in Wuhan, Hubei province.

"Drone transport is really great. I guess it will be easier for my fellow villagers to shop online in the future," said Li, who lives in Lizhen village, Xinzhou district.

Li's parcels were delivered by a drone carrying over 20 postal packages. The drone is capable of flying at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour and cruising at an altitude of 120 meters.

Operated by skilled professionals, the payload hexacopter drone boasts an impressive one-hour flight endurance and can carry as many as 300 to 500 parcels at a time.

"Sometimes a delivery journey would have taken me over 40 minutes on my motorcycle," remarked Liu Jianying, a courier from the Xinzhou subsidiary of China Post Group (CPG), adding that drone deliveries are not hindered by traffic congestion or other road conditions.

"The drones will significantly reduce transport time and enhance the efficiency of parcel distribution," he said.

In collaboration with CPG, the local government in Xinzhou pioneered Wuhan's first rural drone delivery route, which is currently undergoing validation flights across three pilot villages.

It is slated to officially commence flight operations in early December, with plans to expand to 13 villages within the region upon the successful completion of the trial phase.

Xinzhou district is located in the residual ranges of the Dabie Mountains, featuring vast terrains of mountains, hills and forests. With a total of 582 villages scattered across the area, most of the villages are quite far apart, leading to a dispersed population.

As online shopping experiences significant growth and the demand for courier services continues to rise, this drone delivery route is expected to become an important supplement to delivery services.

According to the State Post Bureau, the volume of courier services in rural areas has increased by over 10-fold in the past decade.

"During the initial stages, the purchase, maintenance and operation costs of drones might be relatively high. But in the long term, as drones become widely deployed, the unit costs will decrease, effectively addressing issues related to labor shortages and high logistics costs," Zhang Dawei, a professor from the institute of urban and rural governance at Central China Normal University, was quoted by Hubei Daily as saying.

In addition to courier services, the application of drones in Xinzhou will also extend to various other sectors such as culture, tourism, agriculture and more. The district is leveraging the advantages of hosting Wuhan's national aerospace industry base to explore and expand the applications of low-altitude flight operations.

In August 2016, the industry base settled in Xinzhou as China's third national-level aerospace industry base after Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi province. It is also China's first commercial aerospace industry base.

Contact the writers at liukun@chinadaily.com.cn