DHL beats Amazon & Google to first planned Europe drone delivery

© Khunaspix Dreamstime.

While all the talk about drone deliveries augmenting supply chains has centred on a race between the two technology giants of Google and Amazon, it appears that the first company to deploy driverless drones will be German express ad logistics behemoth DHL, which has secured permission to today begin using unmanned “parcelcopters” to deliver medicines and express consignments to Germany’s North Sea island of Juist. Meanwhile, the host of applicants ready to employ drones for e-commerce deliveries in North America will have to wait until the Federal Aviation Administration has drawn up regulations governing their operation.