Package delivery by drones was one of these crazy tech ideas we entertained ourselves with for years, and suddenly, it’s a reality. Why do I claim this? Well, in September of 2019 ,UPS got the first US nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) approval for drone delivery. They already delivered medicine by drones, but now they are able to expand their service.

A group of eager competitors are breathing down their neck: Amazon will start their commercial Prime Air delivery service within months; Uber will start their Uber Eats drone delivery service with a brand new drone design in San Diego in 2020; and the Alphabet-owned company Wing just teamed up with FedEx to form a serious alliance and begin delivering products by drones in Christianburg, Virginia.

Other countries are also pursuing drone delivery. Drone Delivery Canada has been in testing since 2017 and is entering commercialization as we speak. Antworks has received approval and a business license from the Civil Aviation Administration of China to operate commercial drone deliveries in urban areas. And JD.com (a Chinese version of Amazon) is doing unmanned drone delivery tests in China, Indonesia and Japan.

Will this happen in Denmark in 2020? Not for the time being, unfortunately, due to regulative issues. Although Project Healthdrone are currently doing test flights with patient samples between hospital units in Fyn. I predict that across the world, this kind of last-mile delivery will shift from a rarity to an everyday phenomenon in 2020.