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DHL drones make package deliveries in southern China
Companies around the world are experimenting with drone delivery services
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Ever since Jeff Bezos raised the idea of using drones to deliver Amazon packages, people have been wondering when they’ll see an airborne vehicle show up on their doorsteps. So far we’ve seen quite a number of companies working on delivering medical supplies, like Zipline, UPS and DHL. Most ordinary consumers, though, have yet to receive packages carried by drones.
In China, DHL is starting to experiment with commercial airborne deliveries.
Operating out of a DHL service center in Dongguan -- a tech manufacturing hub between Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- the project delivers cargo weighing up to 11 pounds within a distance of 5 miles. The mini aircraft are supplied by Ehang. The drone maker is perhaps best known for its elaborate drone light shows and its effort to build a self-flying vehicle carrying human passengers.
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Ehang’s drones for DHL won’t actually land on people’s porches. Instead, they travel between smart outdoor lockers, picking up and dropping off packages that are then carried by DHL workers to their final destinations.
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The approach, which seems to be more practical in areas where people live primarily in apartment buildings, was also adopted by Chinese food delivery app Ele.me last year.
(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, owner of Ele.me.)
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