Chinese authorities may look to restrict use of delivery drones in urban areas
China’s aviation authorities may look to restrict the use of delivery drones in urban areas, according to local sources. Ke Yuyu, the secretary of the China Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, reportedly told attendees of last week’s General Aviation Development Summit in Beijing that the China’s Civil Aviation Administration has passed a new set of draft regulations on drones and they will be released later this month.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that – according to local sources, at least – the new rules may place more stringent controls on the use of drones carrying heavy loads and may even impose a blanket ban on the use of delivery drones in congested urban areas.
A report published today (1 December) by news website TechinAsia.com passed on the information about the urban delivery drone ban – but then pointed out that there had been no official confirmation on the matter. The TechinAsia.com article also speculated that any restriction on the use of drones in urban areas may be just a temporary measure – adding that the restrictions could be lifted as drone technology develops and concerns about safety are allayed.
As previously reported by Post&Parcel, Chinese logistics company S.F. Express has reportedly already been conducting parcel deliveries by drone. However, the deliveries were said to have been made in “remote and mountainous areas” – not in cities.
Indeed, almost all the drone delivery tests that have been conducted outside China – in the US, Europe and Asia – have been conducted in rural or thinly-populated areas.
In September, Finland’s Posti ran a four-day drone delivery trial in the capital city, Helsinki, which it describes as a possible world-first “in an inhabited urban environment”. However, the drone was delivering parcels from the mainland area of Helsinki to a drop-off on the island of Suomenlinna, so this was perhaps not a full-blown urban test.
