Amazon isn’t the only company with its eyes on drone-powered delivery, it seems.
According to a new report by The Verge, UPS is also exploring its options for a fleet of autonomous aerial delivery drones to compete with the Seattle-based retail giant’s plans. UPS, for its part, is fairly coy about what the future might hold, but it says that the company is certainly open to the possibility of using drones.
“The commercial use of drones is an interesting technology and we’ll continue to evaluate it,” a company spokesperson told GeekWire in an email. “UPS invests more in technology than any other company in the delivery business, and we’re always planning for the future.”
While Amazon uses UPS and other shipping companies to fulfill its orders, rolling its own drone service could be hard on the shipping giant’s business. If Amazon allows users of its fulfillment service to ship parcels using PrimeAir, that could be a major blow to UPS.
FedEx’s founder has said that he’s interested in pursuing the possibility of using unmanned drones, so it looks like the skies are going to get pretty crowded.
The real question is, what happens when all of these companies have drone fleets flying around? Will the 5 o’clock news have to cover a dogfight between DHL and FedEx? It may be the future soon. Get ready to duck.
Previously on GeekWire: Amazon’s aerial delivery drones: How Jeff Bezos’ big idea could actually fly…Amazon’s big surprise: Flying drones will deliver packages to customer doorsteps