Life as we know it is changing.

As I scrolled through my Facebook news feed, I read a title that pretty much fueled my clickbait, ‘Chipotle uses drones to deliver burritos by Google’s parent company Alphabet’. It didn’t take long for my mouth to start drooling (Thanks, Pavlov) and for my mind to start thinking of burritos flying through the air. Wait a second. Chipotle + drones + delivery. I can still binge watch Stranger Things in my sweatpants while my food is delivered to my front door? Count me in. The whole concept of drones has always been in the headlines, but hasn’t really ever been on my radar. Ok, great they can fly, create pretty dramatic panoramic videos, and somehow manage to deliver products to our houses, but are they actually going to make a difference in our daily lives? I used to think not, but these days I believe they are. It’s not that I didn’t think they could potentially be a positive asset to our world, because I did. But what really threw my mind for a whirl was wondering what negative impact they might have on our world.

Drones are here. How will they influence mobility?

Instead of focusing on the negative things that could potentially affect our lives when drones hit the sky, I decided wholeheartedly that drones really can manage to alter our lives by changing how we move and the way we move.

Mobility Transformations

The 3.3 billion drone industry isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon – the industry is projected to hit $90 billion by 2025. It’s moving and continuing to fuel how we move; no pun intended. But exactly how is the industry going to play a key role in mobility as a whole?

Let’s start with Moore’s Law. According to Moore’s Law, every 2 years computing power doubles as technology advances. The fact that the drone can already lift a significant amount of weight means it could be ready to lift 100 to 200 to even 400 pounds of weight in less time than we previously predicted. Think about it. Autonomous cars are here. They’re in production, being tested, being driven; they’re not going anywhere. Drone taxis are the next level of driverless evolution. As self-driving, driverless cars become the standard norm – having a drone fly through the air while simultaneously delivering a king size bed to your front porch isn’t as unusual as you might think. For the future of transportation, drones will play a significant role in the advancement of technology. Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, even told a group of kids that drone taxis could very well be on the horizon. Bezos even noted that 95% of Amazon’s deliveries are under 5 pounds, which is around the weight Amazon drones can carry. Talk about changes.

Creating seamless experiences

Not only are drones changing how we move, but they’re creating experiences that are unlike any others. Uber is already a premature example of how drone taxis are currently being highlighted by mobile technology. Riders utilize the ridesharing app to hail a ride to their destination via their smartphone. The next step? Autonomous cars in lieu of drivers and then drone taxis, which would provide on-demand mobility for users. Now we’re getting seamless experiences that we no longer just appreciate, but actually expect. Being able to order and pay for your Chipotle burrito from the comfort of your couch to having it conveniently delivered to your door is defining the age of convenience. For Passport, users have the ability to fully handle their transit experience from their smartphone. Being able to plan, track, pay, and manage your transit session with their mobile transit app gives users the control they want while getting to their destination.

The processes that are part of our day-to-day lives are being altered by technology to give us the most efficient and seamless experience. Whether we’re ordering a burrito with guac (I’ll always pay extra) to being transported via drone taxi to your office – the world is quickly changing. It’s innovating, transforming, and continuing to mold how we move. As drones hit the sky, we can expect to see the innovations reach another level of altitude. For now, they’ll deliver my Chipotle burrito with guac…