アラブ首長国連邦（UAE）最大の都市であるドバイ（Dubai）では、早ければ2018年3月にもドローンによる配送が実現する、と伝えているのはUAEで最も長い歴史を持つ英字新聞、Khaleej Times紙です。
無人航空機による配送を謳うEniverse Technology社は、トラックからドローンに配送手段を替えることで配送コストを30〜40％程度削減する見込みとのこと。手続きはすでに始まっており、まず5機が特定のエリアで配送を開始する予定です。順調にいけば、エリアを拡大し、2020年までにドローン自体も100機まで増やすそうです。
そのためには最先端の航空交通管理システムが必要になるため、民間航空局(General Civil Aviation Authority)は、2016年からこれに取り組んでいます。
さらに、ドバイの国土交通機関（The Roads and Transportation Authority）は、ドローンによる配送テストにとどまらず、年末までに「空飛ぶタクシー」の実験を本格的に開始する見通しです。
実際に動きを見せているのはUber社で、2020年までにドバイでの空飛ぶタクシー運転開始を実現すべく、力を注いでいます。
奇想天外に思われるかもしれませんが、彼らが官民一体で取り組むことができれば、2020年には私たちは今とは全く違う世界に住んでいるかもしれません。
Drone Delivery Is Coming to Dubai by 2018
Drone delivery is coming to the Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, as early as March of 2018, according to the Khaleej Times. Eniverse Technologies, an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery company led by CEO Mohammed Johmani, plans to cut delivery costs by 30-40 percent by switching from traditional truck delivery to drone delivery. According to a recent study The Drive reported on, this change will not only be economically beneficial for Dubai, but be far more environmentally friendly than the current standard of truck deliveries.
According to the Khaleej Times, the required governmental approval process of corporate drone deliveries has been begun already and is expected to last 6 to 12 months, making March a pretty good estimate for when this could actually take off. Once the paperwork has been taken care of, deliveries will start to smaller neighborhoods. At first, there will be five UAVs at work, in the following districts: Emirates Hills, The Meadows, The Springs, The Greens, Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim. Once things run smoothly, Eniverse will expand their 5kg-maximum deliveries of goods to more areas. Not only that, but the expected increase of the drone fleet is currently at 100 vehicles.
“We shall start with five drones and increase it to 100 by 2022. We are talking with two major entities in the UAE to start using our services. This is (a) futuristic project and it hard to test the demand, as we will be the first movers in the UAE market and one of the few globally,” Johmani told the Khaleej Times.
Of course, a sophisticated drone air-traffic management system needs to be put in place as a reliable framework for a fleet of autonomous vehicles as is proposed, and the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority is quite aware of that. According to the Khaleej Times, they’ve been working on establishing this framework since November of 2016—and they aren’t the only organization preparing for this.
The Roads and Transportation Authority (RTA) of Dubai, as well as Dubai Future Accelerator, are planning on beginning drone delivery trials within the next month, the Khaleej Times reports. This past June, the RTA tested an “air taxi,” with its actual trials beginning by the end of the year. Apparently, Uber is keen on implementing flying cars in Dubai by 2020. This may seem far too futuristic or overly ambitious, but with enough resources pushing the drone industry forward, as well as governments cooperating with these companies efficiently—we may be living in a vastly different world by 2020.
