Drones facilitate people’s lives in China

A logistics drone of China’s e-commerce giant JD.com takes off at an e-commerce demonstration base located in Xining, northwestern China’s Qinghai province, Apr.25, 2018. On the day, a launching ceremony of express delivery service by drones of JD.com was held in Xining. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)

Several Chinese cities are using drones to monitor traffic, capturing traffic violations such as using mobile phones while driving and illegal parking. In February 2019, traffic management departments of Nanning, capital of southwestern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region handled 438 cases of illegal parking with the help of drones, according to The Beijing News. Compared with law enforcement personnel, drones are more economical and efficient and have a stronger deterrent effect on those wishing to escape punishment.

Drones take videos instead of pictures of parking violations as evidence. It is through human analysis that the cases are finally defined. Taking videos as evidence could document scenes and significantly reduce the incidence of subjective misjudgments. Besides aerial law enforcement, civilian drones have been brought into use in more areas including plant protection in agriculture and forestry, disaster relief, express delivery, and photography. China’s state-run mail service operator China Post Group Corporation has concluded its first test flight of a drone for delivery services, according to the Beijing branch of the company. The drone took off from the post office of Zhaitang town, Beijing’s Mentougou district, and arrived at the post station of Melancon village, also in the district. After the parcels were delivered, the drone returned to the post office in Zhaitang town.

The straight-line distance of the whole trip was about 3.9 kilometers, and it took around 8 minutes for the drone to finish a single trip. The delivery route used to be a 10-kilometer-long journey for postal cars, which needed about 20 minutes for a single trip. Since mountain area accounts for 98.5 percent of the total area of Mentougou, drones are helpful in saving labor and material costs and reducing the transportation cost and the risks during the delivery services in the remote mountainous area. The post company plans to establish a rescue team of drones to transport medicines and relief supplies in case of an emergency. Drones, which are futuristic and driven by high-tech, are flying into the life of Chinese people, bringing about changes and surprises in common people’s daily life.

By Liu Ge

(People’s Daily)