Drone use by business set to explode, worth $127B by 2020: PwC

PwC-drone-technology-opticopter-labour-cost-replacement-industry-medicine-infrastructure-EDIWeekly

The adoption of drone technologies by businesses, which is just beginning to help them create new business and operating models, is about to explode, says a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The value of drones, meaning the value of businesses and labour in various industries that could be replaced by drones “in the very near future” is now estimated to be $127 billion. The industry with the best prospects for drone applications is infrastructure, with a value of $45.2 billion. Transport and agriculture also have high potential for drone use.

Drone powered solutions, says the report, are best suited to sectors that require both mobility and a high quality of data. Businesses whose assets are dispersed over large areas, such as infrastructure maintenance, transportation, and agriculture, can benefit greatly from the integration of drones into day-to-day business. Insurance, telecommunications, media, mining and security will all find new uses for drones.

Top drone markets by 2020 according to PwC

  • Infrastructure ($45.2 bn)
  • Agriculture ($32.4bn)
  • Transport ($13bn)
  • Security ($10bn)
  • Media and entertainment ($8.8 bn)
  • Insurance ($6.8 bn)
  • Telecoms ($6.3bn)
  • Mining ($4.4bn)

Infrastructure industries like energy, roads, railways and oil and gas can benefit more quickly than other industries because of their need for real-time field data, whether on a construction site or in the maintenance phase of a project. Contractors can use data gathered by drones in the construction of buildings or of pipelines, the report says. And the drones can also increase safety by performing hazardous work and monitoring construction sites for sources of risk and accidents. Taking photos or conducting aerial surveying of inaccessible locations are two obvious uses in the infrastructure industries.

On the construction site, contractors can use accurate data gathered by drones to perform precise work such as positioning steel slabs in concrete or measuring the depth of pipelines, preventing costly and dangerous construction errors. Drones further increase safety by performing hazardous work, and by monitoring construction areas for possible sources of risk and accidents.

Drone applications will be a “vital” technology in capital projects of the future, the report says, as the technology is developing rapidly. PwC, which established a centre to study drone technology in Poland, advises project owners to place themselves on the “leading edge” of the innovation wave that drones represent.

PwC-drone-technology-labour-cost-replacement-industry-medicine-infrastructure-EDIWeekly

The transport industry stands to make excellent use of drones as well. Delivery by drone of e-commerce packages, spare parts, medicine, food is “certain” to become integral to the industry because of drones’ speed, accessibility and low operating costs. PwC estimates the current value of drones to the transport industry at $13 billion.

Drones will monitor crops for a variety of conditions such as localized drought, provide soil analysis data, including 3D maps, and even tend to crops already in the ground by delivering fertilizers. They will be used in the insurance industry to verify claims, and they will be increasingly used in filming movies. An emerging business in the entertainment sector is drone racing—there is a Drone Racing League, which plans to hold the first ever World Championship races this year.

PwC-drone-technology-crops-labour-cost-replacement-industry-medicine-infrastructure-EDIWeekly

It can also be expected that, in the future, drones will be used for broadcasting telecommunication signals, such as radio, television and internet, both permanently and in temporary roles. For example, drones can be a part of Cell on Wheels (COW) technology, a portable mobile cellular site that provides temporary network and wireless coverage to locations where cellular coverage is minimal or compromised.

Drones are already being used in the film industry, but PwC recommends that companies in the Technology, Information, Communications and Entertainment (TICE) sector “proactively” explore how drones will impact them. They should play a role in developing not only new uses for drones but the appropriate regulation for those uses, working with governments and other companies to help establish this still-new area.

 

Did you miss this?

Other Popular Stories

  • Manufacturing the sole industry showing job losses in February
  • CAE announces flight simulator contracts worth $130 million
  • Wholesale trade saw healthy gains in 2014: Statistics Canada
  • FCA 2020 in Canada: Chrysler 300 to be eliminated; Pacifica to be refreshed; new electric minivan “Portal” to go into production
  • 12 new electric vehicles by 2022 Renaut-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance commits 30% of overall production output
  • Elon Musk's Hyperloop vision racing ahead of naysayers and regulators — Boring Company receives permission to tunnel 10 miles; early tests of tube successful
  • Natural resources, manufacturing show stronger than expected growth in February
  • Eleventh hour intervention by Marchionne secured Fiat Chrysler deal
  • Lockheed Martin seeking industry partners in new innovation and research facility
  • Forestry industry pledges 13 per cent CO2 reduction to fight climate change
  • REE and American Axle & Manufacturing to co-develop new electric propulsion system for e-Mobility
  • As the Tesla Model 3 enters production, oil companies revise estimates of EVs on the road upwards to 530 million by 2040
  • New Boeing 737 Max 8 crash mystery. Why did Lion Air flight 610 crash, killing 189 people, only 13 minutes after take-off?
  • 91% of coal-fired power plants are leaking toxic chemicals into groundwater: report
  • Manufacturers group says government policies reflect its input
  • Union workers safer in construction trades: study
  • Singapore scientists invent bendable concrete for low-maintenance roads
  • Wind projects going ahead in Quebec, public not necessarily on board
  • Carbon Nanotubes — from energy storage to automotive parts, from electromagnetic shields to biomedical applications — light, stable, durable
  • Engineering and building under water — how is it done, and the modern use of Cofferdams
Scroll to Top