LODD Autonomous to explore integration of unmanned Hili aircraft model into DHL Express’ delivery operations

LODD Autonomous have signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing with DHL Express to start work­ing togeth­er on how its unmanned Hili air­craft could be inte­grat­ed into DHL’s express deliv­ery net­work.

Hili is LOD­D’s flag­ship solu­tion for last- and mid­dle-mile deliv­ery. The unmanned air­craft has a max­i­mum pay­load of 250 kg and the abil­i­ty to car­ry two Euro pal­lets. The air­craft fea­tures VTOL capa­bil­i­ty and has a range of 700 km (+30 min reserve), and a max­i­mum cruise alti­tude of 14,000 ft, enabling effi­cient oper­a­tions even in chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ments.

Fol­low­ing an announce­ment today (Tues­day), both com­pa­nies will now begin oper­a­tional work­shops to iden­ti­fy pri­or­i­ty routes and use cas­es for unmanned car­go deliv­ery.

Rashid Al Man­ai, CEO of LODD, said: “Part­ner­ing with DHL Express reflects the UAE’s ambi­tion to lead the world in advanced air mobil­i­ty and smart logis­tics. Designed and devel­oped in the UAE, the Hili unmanned air­craft is pur­pose-built for the region’s oper­a­tional demands, from urban den­si­ty to long-dis­tance con­nec­tiv­i­ty.

“This col­lab­o­ra­tion posi­tions the UAE at the fore­front of autonomous car­go oper­a­tions and sup­ports the nation’s vision for inno­v­a­tive, future-ready infra­struc­ture. Through joint oper­a­tional work­shops, we will focus on route def­i­n­i­tion, pay­load opti­miza­tion, turn­around times, and sys­tem inter­op­er­abil­i­ty to ensure safe, reli­able, and scal­able deploy­ment.”

DHL Express has been oper­at­ing in the UAE for 50 years. Today, the com­pa­ny man­ages an exten­sive net­work of around 40 loca­tions, includ­ing ser­vice points, gate­ways, and hubs, and more than 350 vehi­cles.

The glob­al leader in inter­na­tion­al express deliv­ery also counts more than 150 dai­ly flight con­nec­tions from the UAE, sup­port­ed by its own DHL’s air­craft fleet. All these capa­bil­i­ties, as well as ongo­ing invest­ments in advanced tech­nolo­gies, ensure the company’s readi­ness to meet the evolv­ing needs of busi­ness­es and con­sumers in one of the world’s most dynam­ic logis­tics mar­kets.

Bachi Spi­ga, VP Net­work Oper­a­tions Mid­dle East and North Africa, DHL Express, said: “As the glob­al leader in inter­na­tion­al express deliv­ery, speed and reli­a­bil­i­ty are essen­tial to main­tain­ing our strong mar­ket posi­tion.

“In fast-grow­ing regions like the UAE, where road con­ges­tion pos­es new chal­lenges, inno­va­tions such as LODD’s unmanned Hili air­craft present a sus­tain­able way for­ward to meet the ris­ing demand effec­tive­ly.”