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Logistics (2)
物流欄目（第二部分）
Droning on
啟動無人機
Automated deliveries get a fillip
自動配送注入強心劑
Unmanned vehicles, airborne or earthbound, have been pressed into anti-pandemic service the world over. In Mexican slums they spray disinfectant from the sky. “Shout drones” with loudspeakers scold socially undistanced Americans, Chinese and Europeans. Most consequential, the popularity of contactless provision of food and medical supplies is boosting the drone-delivery business.
無論是無人機還是無人車，都已經投入到世界各地的抗疫服務中。在墨西哥貧民窟，無人機從空中噴灑消毒劑。“廣播無人機”利用揚聲器譴責未保持社交距離的美國人、中國人和歐洲人。最重要的是，無接觸食品和醫療用品供應的普及，推進了無人機配送業務的發展。
Before covid-19 MarketsandMarkets, a research firm, reckoned this would generate revenues of $800m this year. Now it says $1bn is closer to the mark, and has revised its forecast for 2022 from $1.6bn to $2.2bn. Many other analysts agree.
在新冠肺炎疫情爆發之前，咨詢公司MarketsandMarkets估計，無人機業務在今年可以產生8億美元的收入。現在，這家公司表示，收入目標會接近10億，并將對于2022年的預測收入從16億調整至22億美元。很多其他分析師也同意這一點。
Drone-delivery firms typically operate vehicles on behalf of corporate clients. Some bigger drones, like those made by TwinswHeel of France, which can carry up to 300kg, can cost $20,000 or more apiece, as much as a van. Kiwibot of California makes $2,500 cart-like drones.
無人機配送公司通常代表公司客戶操作無人機。一些大型無人機，如法國TwinswHeel公司生產的無人機，可以攜帶重達300公斤的物品，每架無人機價格高達2萬美金或者更多，與一輛面包車的價格相當。加利福尼亞州的Kiwibot制造了價值2500美元的汽車式無人機。
Kiwibot’s pre-pandemic fleet of 20 or so has grown to about 50, ferrying meals and shopping in two Californian cities, and two others in Colombia and Taiwan; 500 more Kiwibots are in production. Using them adds just $2 to a shopper’s bill. Another Californian firm, Starship Technologies (which despite its name makes wheeled drones), has seen its fleet expand threefold in a year, to 1,000 across five countries.
疫情爆發前，Kiwibot的無人機隊伍僅有20架左右，現在已經發展到50架，大多數無人機在加州的兩個城市配送食物和商品，另外兩架在哥倫比亞和臺灣配送。目前仍有500架Kiwibot正在生產。商家們使用無人機只需要增加2美元的費用。另一家加州公司，Starship Technologies（盡管名字中包含星際飛船，實際制造輪式無人機），其無人機隊伍在一年內擴大了三倍，擁有1000架無人機，服務五個國家。
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