Australia Post may trial drones for rural deliveries

Australia Post’s Managing Director & Group CEO Ahmed Fahour told delegates at an Australian Financial Review Business Summit today (16 March) that the company is considering trialling the use of drones for deliveries in some rural areas. Australia’s farms are famously far-flung, and Australia Post may test to see if drones could be used to complete the last half-mile delivery to the farmhouse, rather than making vans complete the trip on the long and bumpy driveway.

Australia Post raised the possibility of running drone delivery tests in partnership with an e-commerce retailer in October last year.

The idea of partnering with retailers still seems to be on the cards. Fahour told the AFR summit today: “I know there are some retailers right now that we’re working with, and I’m hoping later this year we’re going to do some trials.”

The Australia Post MD added: ‘The reality is that anybody who doesn’t believe that technology is going to fundamentally change the way we do business in this country is mad.’

There are no specific details about what technology Australia Post might be using if it were to run these rural delivery tests. However, Post&Parcel readers may recall that US-based Workhorse Group has developed a “Horsefly” drone which is designed to fly to and from a standard delivery vehicle. The Horsefly recharges its batteries from the delivery van, and navigates its way to the delivery points using GPS navigation.