Commercial services based on drones are growing in popularity for a wide variety of applications according to a new report from Tractica. It forecasts that global drone-enabled services will increase from $337.6 million in 2017 to $22 billion by 2026.
Tractica anticipates the three leading industries in the drone services market will be film and media, utility, energy and infrastructure sectors and agriculture. Tractica Senior Analyst Glenn Sanders said other large application markets for drones include surveying and monitoring, mapping, inspections, aerial imagery, data collection and analytics and deliveries.
“In addition to traditional tasks, new capabilities and intelligent software are enabling a variety of innovative services that include rapid deployment, timely and more accurate data, and a tangible return on investment to clientts while minimizing capital and personnel requirements,” Sanders said in a statement.
Amazon is considering using drones for deliveries to doorsteps and IBM just patented a drone system to deliver coffee to individuals and at cafes, and events.
North Carolina is a hotbed of drone research. Duke University researchers used drones to measure the impact of hurricanes on North Carolina beaches and NC State uses them to monitor disasters. Raleigh is also home to drone startup PrecisionHawk.
Tractica’s report, “Commercial Drone-Enabled Services” examines the global marketplace trends and provides a 10-year outlook.
