Elizabeth Weise

USATODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Both the drone industry and federal regulators are years away from actual legal drone deliveries in the United States. But that’s not stopping companies from testing possibilities, both to get the visual of a drone with their logo out in front of the public and to see what works.

UPS was the latest to try something new with drones on Tuesday when it ran a test of a truck-launched drone delivery system for rural areas in Lithia, Fla.

The drone-equipped vans would only be used on rural routes, said Mark Wallace, senior vice president for global engineering and sustainability, UPS.

Imagine a triangular delivery route where the stops are miles apart by road, he said.

The van-top drone would allow a UPS driver to make one delivery at the lower-left of the triangle, after launching a drone that would autonomously fly and deliver to the top of the triangle.

"While the drone is making its delivery, the driver would continue to the next stop, make another delivery by hand, and the drone would then rendezvous and recharge on top of the UPS package car,” he said.

The test "has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery,” Wallace said. UPS' aim isn’t to replace drivers but to make them more efficient by allowing one driver to more quickly and efficiently deliver to several homes near one and other, he said.

The drones come from the Workhorse Group, an Ohio-based electric truck and drone developer. Workhorse built both the drone and the electric UPS package car used in the test. The drone tested on Monday was an octocopter that is fully integrated with the Workhorse line of electric/hybrid delivery trucks.

“The drone is fully autonomous. It doesn’t require a pilot. So the delivery driver is free to make other deliveries while the drone is away,” said Stephen Burns, Workhorse founder and CEO.

UPS estimates that reducing the distance its truck drive by just one mile per driver per day over one year could save the company up to $50 million.

Rural delivery routes are the most expensive to serve, due to the time and vehicle expenses required to complete each delivery.

This isn’t UPS’ first public drone test. In September it stated a mock delivery from Beverly, Mass.. to an island off the Atlantic coast, over open water.

UPS open ocean drone delivery test a success

The company also currently uses drones to check inventory on high storage shelves in its warehouses, which is already legal to do.

UPS realizes that drones are years away from daily use, but Wallace said its founder long ago said, “our horizon is as distant as our mind’s eye wishes it to be.”

From a technology standpoint, the industry needs more development of ‘sense and avoid’ technology to be ready to implement, and FAA still needs “to write the rules that will allow for the safe integration of commercial drones into the National Airspace.,” he said.

UPS sits on the the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s drone advisory committee, the agency that would be the one to issue regulations making drones legal for deliveries.

New rules for small drones set by FAA