In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, drone service providers (DSPs) are increasingly being classified as “Essential Service Personnel,” as they deliver critical — contactless — solutions, such as healthcare, COVID research, energy, transportation, oil-and-gas, surveying and construction.
Essential Service Personnel (DSPs) have been essential for several years already as they continue to help save lives on a regular basis, whether it is providing vital reconnaissance, mapping and imagery for police or firemen, or for search-and- rescue agencies. This, of course, has been especially true during the COVID crisis. In fact, the World Economic Forum reported that government agencies in China regularly used drones to deliver medical equipment between hospitals and testing centers.
Contactless delivery is crucial, whether it is self-driving shuttles at the Mayo Clinic delivering COVID-19 tests, food being delivered in China, or sidewalk robots operating in our own country.
The so-called “new normal” of COVID-19 is an ever increasing challenge to industries across the globe as they attempt to acclimate to this new reality and come to terms with their need for drone service providers (DSPs) who are able to meet the growing demand for new approaches across public and commercial sectors.
It was estimated by Barclays in 2019 that drones would lower costs by $100 billion across a majority of industries. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gives a promising picture of the growth of drones as they report that the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry is “at an inflection point of demonstrating powerful stages of growth” that will “continue to accelerate over the next few years.”*
In the article, “The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem,” the World Economic Forum estimates that the demand for e-commerce delivery will need 36% more vehicles in inner cities by 2030.
As Matt Dunlevy, CEO of drone services provider, SkySkopes, stated the following:
“The economic and public disruption of the pandemic forced everyone – the public and private sector to rethink how we do things. Agencies and corporate clients have begun to understand how powerful UAS technology can become as a positive agent of actionable change in a COVID world.”*
SkySkopes have been in the forefront of providing vital services to the population in general by becoming the first drone service provider to string power lines in the U.S. and thereby saved workers from dangerous and very time-consuming work. It has become known for deploying drones to produce “actionable intelligence for utilities and oil companies by using sensors such as state-of-the-art LiDAR, Optical Gas Imaging and EO.”* In fact, since the outbreak of COVID-19 earlier this year, SkySkopes has been certified as “Essential Service Personnel” in states across the U.S. that have been overwhelmed by the pandemic.
Future
As public-safety agencies face the continual pressure to address COVID-related cases, drone service providers — like SkySkopes — are making their job easier. With the overwhelming challenge COVID-19 is presenting — delivery robots, flying robots (drones), and self-driving delivery vehicles — are needed to serve clinics and hospitals to take care of patients. Such vehicles are also essential to serve e-commerce companies, restaurants, etc. to keep employees healthy.
As the pandemic continues to evolve, and since we don’t know the scope or duration of the pandemic, commerce and government must face the “new-normal” obstacles, which emphasizes the critical need for drone service providers and the need to continue to innovate contactless, remote and essential solutions to the global community.
