Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer, has employed a specially developed drone system at its Neckarsulm site in Germany. The carmaker will be using this newly developed flying device for efficient vehicle dispatching, saving a lot of time. The new device flies over the vehicle dispatch area at Audi`s Neckarsulm site autonomously. It uses GPS and RFID technology to categorise and save the precise position of all cars, thus helping the employees to complete necessary steps before despatching it to the customers.

The carmaker manufacturers several models every day at the Neckarsulm facility which includes A4 sedan, A5 Cabriolet, A6, A7, A8 and the R8. After manufacturing, the Audi employees park the cars in the designated areas in the plant. Ensuring that each Audi finds its way to its new owner from here requires exact planning from production to despatch. The company claims that employees are getting assistance from this system, as the drone makes it easier and convenient to locate the vehicles at the site.

Steffen Conrad, project manager in the area of Innovation Management at the Audi site in Neckarsulm said, "The fast locating of the vehicles creates even higher process quality and is a further stepping stone on the path to digital production. The drone provides support from a completely new perspective. We will now share our experiences with other Audi sites and within the VW Group."

As so many models are manufactured at the site, it is one of the most complex facilities among the Volkswagen Group. The entire process of order planning becomes challenging and usage of drone simplifies the entire process. The company claims that the drone system is designed to operate in a completely autonomous way. Before each flight, the drone automatically receives weather conditions around the plant premises. If the wind is too strong or there is possibility of heavy rainfall, the drone will not take off. Additionally, the software also keeps a check on the battery levels and battery temperature before each flight.