With the rapid development of science and technology, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gradually come into our lives and become an important force to promote the development of low altitude economy. Low-altitude economy, refers to the use of low-altitude airspace resources, through drones, aircraft, and other means, to realize a variety of commercial activities and public services of the new economic form.
Some previously thought to be unlikely businesses have already begun to enter the ordinary life, for example: the drone delivery of Meituan.
As of November 2023, Meituan’s drones have opened 22 routes in 8 business districts in Shenzhen, Shanghai and other cities, covering a variety of scenarios such as community offices, scenic spots, hospitals, etc., with a cumulative total of more than 210,000 user orders; in terms of delivery time, the average delivery time of the drones in 2022 will be about 12 minutes, which will improve efficiency by nearly 150% compared with the traditional delivery mode, and will save nearly 30,000 hours of waiting time for the users. waiting time for users.
In 2023, the Shenzhen Municipal Government Work Report proposed to build a low-altitude economic center, a comprehensive demonstration zone for the general aviation industry, and a pilot zone for civil unmanned aerial vehicles, which is the first time that Shenzhen has included “low-altitude economy” in a government work report.
Low altitude flight is a flight between 100m and 1000m from the ground, which is suitable for training, parachute drop, airdrop, reconnaissance, strike and agriculture and forestry operations. Besides, according to the flight altitude, it is divided into ultra-low altitude flights (below 100m from the ground, which can be used for agricultural and forestry operations, tourism, search and rescue, strike and detachment from the enemy area, etc.), low altitude flight (altitude of 100-1000m, which can be used for training, parachute drop, airdrop, reconnaissance, strike and agricultural and forestry operations, etc.), medium altitude flight (altitude of 1000-7000m, which can be used for training, patrol, bombing and route flight), and high altitude flight (altitude of 100-7000m). Medium-altitude flight (altitude of 1000-7000m, can be used for training, patrol, bombing and route flight), high-altitude flight (altitude of 7000-15000m, can be used for training, reconnaissance, bombing, interception, patrol and route flight), ultra-high-altitude flight (altitude of more than 15000m, can be used for reconnaissance, interception, etc.) Aircraft flying within the atmosphere, the flight altitude is generally within 30 km; rockets and missiles are mostly flying within the atmosphere, while carriers are mostly flying within the atmosphere. Flight in the atmosphere, while the carrier rockets and ballistic missiles are both in the atmosphere and outside the atmosphere; spacecraft are outside the atmosphere of space flight. There are five types of flight speeds: low-speed flight (M<0.3), subsonic flight (M=0.3-0.8), transonic flight (M=0.8-1.4), supersonic flight (M=1.4-5.0) and hypersonic flight (M>5.0).
According to statistics, by 2022, the size of the global low-altitude economy market has reached the level of hundreds of billions of dollars. Among them, the market scale of UAVs and aerial vehicles accounts for about 70%, showing the huge market potential of low altitude economy. In terms of competition pattern, countries such as the United States, China and Israel have a leading position in the field of UAV technology. Meanwhile, some European countries such as France and Germany are also actively promoting the development of a low-altitude economy, aiming to make Europe an important force in the development of the global low-altitude economy.
China’s low-altitude economy industry is dominated by drones. For the future development of the entire low-altitude economy market, the Central Government has made it clear in the Outline of the National Three-dimensional Transportation Network Plan released in the 14th Five-Year Plan that by 2035 the country’s commercial- and industrial-grade drones that support economic development are expected to reach 26 million, and that over the same period, the number of drone pilots will grow to 630,000 as well. By 2035, the central government expects the industrial scale of the national low-altitude economy to reach more than 6 trillion yuan.
The low-altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that takes all kinds of low-altitude flight activities of all kinds of manned and unmanned aircraft as traction and radiates and drives the integrated development of related fields. The prospects of a low-altitude economy are broad, the development of trillions of industry scale, the number of future drones will be several times as many as today’s, will bring great opportunities for the development of its upstream and downstream industries, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
(1) Expansion of application fields: In the future, with the continuous progress of technology and the gradual liberalization of policies, drones will be applied in more fields. For example, with the development of auto-pilot technology, drones will gradually realize commercialized manned applications; in the medical field, drones will realize remote medical assistance and other functions.
(2) Research and development of innovative products: To meet the needs of different fields, more innovative UAV products will emerge in the future. For example, research and development of heavy-duty UAVs with stronger payload capacity and longer endurance; and research and development of highly integrated and intelligent UAV products to meet the needs of specific industries.
(3) Improvement of regulations and standards: As drones are widely used, relevant regulations and standards will be gradually improved. In the future, governments will strengthen the regulation of UAV safety technology, operation, and management to ensure the safe operation of UAVs and social and public safety.
(4) Synergistic development of the industry: Enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the UAV industry chain will strengthen cooperation and synergistic development, forming a good industrial ecology. From upstream R&D and manufacturing to downstream service applications, enterprises in each link will jointly promote technological innovation and market expansion of UAVs.
(5) Cultivation of skilled personnel: To meet the development needs of the drone industry, countries will strengthen the training of specialized personnel. In the future, more training institutions and enterprise cooperation programs will emerge to cultivate talents such as drone pilots, maintenance engineers, and system integrators.
(6) Green environmental protection: To reduce the impact of UAVs on the environment, the design and manufacture of future UAVs will pay more attention to green environmental protection. For example, measures such as the use of renewable materials, the reduction of noise pollution, and the improvement of energy utilization efficiency will promote UAVs in the direction of green and sustainable development.
(7) Integration of 5G and other new technologies: With the popularization and application of 5G and other new-generation communication technologies, UAVs will be deeply integrated with 5G and other technologies to realize more efficient data transmission and processing capabilities. For example, 5G networks will be used to realize remote control and real-time image transmission; and big data and cloud computing technologies will be combined to improve UAV data processing and analysis capabilities.
A low-altitude economy will also enhance the efficiency and structural reconstruction of related industries. Take out your cell phone, and order a cup of coffee, in less than 15 minutes, the drone disguised as a delivery boy, coffee from the sky; the same city to play “fly” to work, and air “ambulance” to transport the injured, say goodbye to traffic jams; cool drones staged in the clouds! “technology show”, lighting up the wonderful city night sky, igniting the night economy consumption vitality …… As the core node city of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area city cluster, in Shenzhen, a variety of rich and wonderful low-altitude economic application scenes are becoming more and more abundant, Hollywood blockbuster future city imagination is gradually becoming a reality. The imagination of the Hollywood blockbuster future city is gradually becoming a reality.
From air transport to the space industry, mankind’s exploration of the sky has never stopped, and the tentacles of civilization continue to extend upward, refreshing people’s imagination of the sky at the same time, but also releasing huge economic and industrial benefits. Nowadays, the low-altitude economy is becoming another important engine to promote the high-quality development of the economy, breeding trillions of dollars of market space.
