Drone Delivery

The Dream of Drone Delivery Just Became Much More Real

Four years after Amazon introduced the idea, big aerospace companies are finally revealing their own cargo drone prototypes.

BOEING
By Joe Pappalardo

Using unmanned aerial vehicles for door-to-door deliveries seemed like a laughable pipe dream when Amazon tossed out the fanciful idea on 60 Minutes in December 2013. But some very important people didn't find the concept so far-fetched.


Behind the scenes at Bell Helicopters and Boeing, innovative engineers started designing aircraft that could prove that delivery drones could be much more than an Amazon marketing gimmick, and in the past few weeks those projects took the form of real, working prototypes. Bell, Boeing, and many other companies hope that these cargo-hauling drones will become the cornerstone of “on demand mobility."

"ODM is about logistics," says Scott Drennan, Bell's director of innovation, during a Popular Mechanics trip to Bell’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. "We believe these vehicles are needed immediately."

Bell has created the Autonomous Pod Transport (APT), a five-foot-tall, four-rotor drone that can deliver 10 pound packages 50 miles. It's a tail sitter that takes off like a helo but can transition in midair to fly like an airplane. Contractors and Bell staff have been testing the craft in Fort Worth and have plans for an 8-rotor version that can carry 200 pounds of payload up to 300 miles.

Engineers behind some of the most important helicopters in history, Bell wants to imbue some of its own delivery drones breakthroughs into the next generation of helicopters. High on that list is "distributed electric propulsion" where a smart enough aircraft could coordinate the power flowing to any number of rotors, replacing heavy gearboxes and drive trains with thin wires connecting individual motors.

The APT’s propulsion units have about 15-degree range of motion, giving each rotor the ability to react independently to changing aerodynamic conditions, making a safe and stable flight.


The ATP cargo drone.
BELL HELICOPTERS

Bell will likely embrace aircraft that have hybrid designs that can use electric power or gas fuel. Electric vehicles solve some aerodynamic problems, but their weak batteries limit payload size and their time in the air. The rotors of the APT can swap to accommodate gas or electric motors, another good trait for a future flying taxi. The EV version can do short hops and the gas version can take on longer hauls.

Although Bell developed APT only to advance technologies, they couldn't help building a drone applying all the things they learned. Bell wants to first sell the APT to military customers and then move on to Amazon-style aerial delivery services soon after.

But another big aerospace heavy hitter isn't going to let Amazon control the delivery drone market. If there is an emerging aerospace market, Boeing wants a seat at the table. This week the company released video of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air cargo vehicle (CAV). The prototype quadcopter, built in just three months, is designed to transport a payload up to 500 pounds, and the hardware is already being used to test autonomous flight operations.

"We have an opportunity to really change air travel and transport,” said Boeing Chief Technology Officer Greg Hyslop. “We'll look back on this day as a major step in that journey."


Boeing’s CAV drone, capable of hauling 500 pounds.
BOEING

While hauling cargo to your front door is already a huge technical challenge, Bell and Boeing also want to make drones that deliver people from point A to point B. Bell has an informal agreement with Uber to make flying taxis and Boeing says its prototype “complements” an electric passenger drone prototype built by Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia-based company bought by Boeing late last year.

But both of these prototypes—and others like them—depend on regulators to prepare traffic management system for the upcoming influx of drones. The key will be figuring out how to integrate drones into the low altitude skyways currently used by helicopters and to guarantee that autonomous, unmanned aircraft can fly safely over populated areas.

Having the political backing and bureaucratic experience of big aerospace companies could help keep the FAA focus on opening the American skies to drones, an crucial step if Bezos' five-year-old vision has any chance of coming true.

“The safe integration of unmanned aerial systems is vital to unlocking their full potential,” said Steve Nordlund, a vice president at Boeing’s HorizonX department. “Boeing has an unmatched track record, regulatory know-how and systematic approach to deliver solutions that will shape the future of autonomous flight.