Pilot for drone-based sorting centre
Prime Competence and Unmanned Life have started a pilot deployment of an autonomous drone-based sorting centre for Post NL. In what the companies describe as a first for the industry, a combination of drones and autonomous ground vehicles will be used indoors for postal sorting.
In a statement sent to Post&Parcel yesterday the companies said they anticipate the pilot will demonstrate that “autonomous drones can rapidly and accurately perform the sorting at a higher throughput and lower cost per sorted unit than the current industry standard”.
Eddy Thans, CEO of Prime Competence, commented: “The program will involve several fields of technology, from sensors, vehicles, data transmission and software management platforms. We are pleased to have Unmanned Life as a key technology partner on this program; their autonomous drone fleet management technology represents a huge step forward in making this dream a reality.”
Prime Competence and Unmannned Life said that their solution “will be available to all postal operators and e-commerce players creating a level-playing-field for e-commerce companies”.
