COVID-19 has taken the wind out of the market for drone motors for now, although one analyst firm sees 28% annual growth in coming years.
With the pandemic, analyst firm Fact.MR said sales should drop 20% this year. In 2019, the market was $738 million but is still on track to exceed $7.3 billion in 2030.
“Drones and robot deliveries are not as far-fetched as they seem,” Fact.MR said in recent report.
Drone deliveries of food and medical supplies have taken off recently in some cities around the U.S., although their use is not widespread. North Carolina officials recently heard during a virtual meeting from several drone service companies about plans to deliver items, including UPS Flight Forward and drone service provider Matternet in the Winston-Salem area.
RELATED: UPDATE: Drones to fly COVID-19 relief in parts of North Carolina
The FAA recently reported there have been 9,400 test drone flights in nine locations nationally. Those include package deliveries but also inspections of pipelines and power lines and emergency responses. Draganfly is providing test drones to Westport, Connecticut, police for monitoring fever and coughing in crowds.
RELATED: Police in Westport test drones to detect COVID-19 in crowds.
Fact.MR said the global drone motor market will be dominated by U.S. providers, reaching $6.7 billion in 2030. Prominent players in the drone motors market Nidec Group, Parrot Drone, Faulhaber Group, Sunnysky Motors, Align Corp., X-Team RC, Hobbymate, EMAX US, and FPV Model. Nidec recently purchased U.S.-based Roboteq.