Wal-Mart could soon be using drones

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain, could be using drones as soon as the end of this year, the company said Thursday. It also said it is testing artificial intelligence and virtual reality tech without adding further details.

In order to better compete with rivals, the retail giant said it is six-to-nine-months away from introducing drones into its US warehouses and has applied to regulators for permission to test them for external use including home delivery and kerb-side pickup.

The US authorities are still mulling regulations for commercial use of drones to deliver online purchases to customers but has granted several waivers to its current ban on their widespread commercial use. Amazon is also testing drones and has been granted approval to fly them while researching their capabilities.

Walmart's VP of Last Mile and Emerging Sciences Shekar Natarajan said yesterday that the company is “still in early phases of testing and understanding how drones can be better used in different types of business functions.”

Wal-Mart is using custom-built units and proprietary technology for its research with the drones operated by a control tower within its warehouses.

In a demonstration, of how they could be used, Natarajan showed them photographing inventory in warehouses as ultra-fast speed and alerting staff to low stock levels or when items were incorrectly stocked. Both of these functions are currently labour-intensive and can takes weeks to achieve manually with drones achieving the same results in just a day.

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