Global logistics firm DHL has introduced its first ever drone delivery service, in the Guangzhou area of China.

DHL has partnered with EHang, a Chinese ‘intelligent autonomous aerial vehicle’ company, to launch what it says is a fully automated and intelligent smart drone delivery solution aimed at tackling last-mile delivery challenges in urban areas of China.

DHL China chief executive Wu Dongming said: “We are delighted to be partnering with EHang to set an innovation milestone with this new, fully automated and intelligent drone logistics solution, which combines the strength of the world’s largest international express company together with one of the leading UAV companies in the world. This is an exciting time for the logistics sector." 

The two partners have created a customised route for one DHL customer that covers the eight kilometres between the DHL service centre and the customer’s premises in Liabou. DHL says it overcomes the complex road conditions and traffic congestion common to urban areas. 

“It reduces one-way delivery time from 40 minutes to only eight minutes and can save costs of up to 80% per delivery, with reduced energy consumption and carbon footprint compared with road transportation,” the company said.

In Association with

The EHang Falcon smart drone, with eight propellers on four arms, has multiple redundant systems for full backup, and smart and secure flight control modules. Its features include vertical take-off and landing, high accuracy GPS and visual identification, smart flight path planning, fully-automated flight and real-time network connection and scheduling. 

The drones, which can carry up to 5kg of cargo per flight, take off from and land on intelligent cabinets developed specifically for the task. The intelligent cabinets connect with other automated processes including sorting, scanning and storage of express mail, and will feature high-tech functions such as facial recognition and ID scanning.

EHang and DHL plan to develop a second generation of intelligent drones to improve both capacity and range in the future. 

EHang was set up in 2014 and is independently ranked in the top three autonomous drone companies globally.