Urban Air
Mobility with
Roland Berger Drone
Written by: Richard Elliot
In the past, drones were
almost exclusively thought
of as a military-grade
technology with no market in
the commercial or industrial
sector. All that has changed
in the past few years, as the
drone market has grown to
a multi-billion dollar industry
standing with a global market
share of $2 billion in 2018, with
even the most conservative
predictions signaling it to
double by 2022.
Nowadays, drones have
permeated a wide range of
industries and commercial
ventures, from photography
and cinema to logistics,
delivery services, surveillance,
and, most recently,
commercial transportation.
With greater public access
and awareness of drone
technology, innovative uses are
actively being developed that
incorporate drones to serve as
a solution for various public,
commercial, and private sector
problems.
The next leap in the use of
drone technology seems to
be headed towards a massive
industry that accounts for
a global market share of
almost $1.5 trillion (2018) – the
commercial transportation
industry.
A Developing
Market
Drone manufacturers have
begun testing and developing
vehicles that can provide
manned and unmanned
transportation services. These
efforts have started to appear
as scale models and tests at
various locations worldwide,
from the quadcopters of the
Dubai Police to prototypes from
Ferrari and Tesla.
Start-ups working on such
solutions have collectively
received a funding of around
$3 billion worldwide through
various investment sources.
The blooming industry does
not only revolve around
finished products. It drives a
complicated supply chain
from the manufacturing of
necessary parts such as
batteries, propellers, and other
components, to assembly,
testing, and delivery, creating
an entirely new niche market
across the globe.
Conservative prediction seems
to point that the commercial
drones may take around 5 to
10 years to fully mature, yet
exciting applications have
already come into practice
across the globe. One avenue
of the drone transportation
industry is the development of
urban air mobility applications
using drone technology.
Practical
Applications and
Ongoing Projects
Urban air mobility refers to any
means of transportation that
utilize aerial vehicles for use in
an urban setting. This avenue
of research has excellent traffic
and pollution management
benefits, yet raises concerns
regarding the safety and
operation of such vehicles.
The only thing keeping urban
air mobility solutions from being
applied in a large-scale setting
is the lack of safety and security
infrastructure, as the technology
behind such solutions is now
readily available and easily
applicable.
This is evident from Sao Paulo,
Brazil, where urban air mobility
has taken the form of air taxis,
which provide air transportation
using helicopters. This model
shows that the world is readily in
acceptance of the technology.
The solutions must only be
applied with the requisite
safety standards and features
to be brought into large scale
adoption.
Steps towards this end are
actively being taken in the
July 2020
Polo De’Marco