First commercial drone delivery

Emp_Fab

Sporky said:

Chalky said:

Of course - especially as it only makes economic sense for the drones to carry low-weight high-value items.

How so? Drones are cheaper to operate than trucks. This first delivery was of "Donuts, a cup of coffee, a chicken sandwich and some sweets".

...and a free drone.

Bellycaster

ICBM said:

Drones are already easily powerful enough to lift a guitar or an amp.



… which has now evolved into this

The future looks good then

Babones

Taking down drones will become a sport, trust me.

octatonic

I think this will take off.

lloyd

The issue with this is that as said above-people are going to steal them and/or take them out of the sky for shits and giggles. When I was a kid, there is zero chance that my summers would have involved anything but tracking these things down and pirating them with catapults and air guns. They'll end up only delivering to safe landing spots-which would mean the roofs of shops or delivery points like they have now. Can't see them delivering to large parts of cities at least-living in Salford there's fuck all chance I'd ever see my parcel.

ICBM

Bellycaster said:

The future looks good then

Yes .

This technology is at the "Blériot" stage now - the first recognisably modern and practical aircraft. The one in the first video is the "Wright Brothers" stage - a contraption which proves the theory, but not a practical aircraft.

I'm going to predict that the biggest problem in twenty to thirty years' time will be the sheer numbers of flying devices, from delivery drones up to "flying cars", becoming a major hazard to each other.

FX_Munkee

Sporky said:

How? They lower the delivery from several metres up. And they have GPS; if they're intercepted it'll be known where it happened.

In the same way that shoplifting works by not standing still in the aisle that you just trousered that frozen chicken? I'm pretty sure the shop are aware where the "incident" took place, but they're still none the wiser to the whereabouts of the chilled poultry.

thomasross20

Skynet.

Sporky

FX_Munkee said:

Sporky said:

How? They lower the delivery from several metres up. And they have GPS; if they're intercepted it'll be known where it happened.

In the same way that shoplifting works by not standing still in the aisle that you just trousered that frozen chicken? I'm pretty sure the shop are aware where the "incident" took place, but they're still none the wiser to the whereabouts of the chilled poultry.

But the poultry doesn't constantly broadcast its position.

I'm not saying no-one will try to steal or destroy these, but I just don't think we're yet living in the sort of Mad Max dystopia where every drone delivery results in the destruction of said drone. Quite possibly there'll be no-drone areas but your average postie is probably carrying more valuable stuff every day, and they're not getting bumped off on that regular a basis.

Clarky

Sporky said:

FX_Munkee said:

Sporky said:

How? They lower the delivery from several metres up. And they have GPS; if they're intercepted it'll be known where it happened.

In the same way that shoplifting works by not standing still in the aisle that you just trousered that frozen chicken? I'm pretty sure the shop are aware where the "incident" took place, but they're still none the wiser to the whereabouts of the chilled poultry.

But the poultry doesn't constantly broadcast its position.

I'm not saying no-one will try to steal or destroy these, but I just don't think we're yet living in the sort of Mad Max dystopia where every drone delivery results in the destruction of said drone. Quite possibly there'll be no-drone areas but your average postie is probably carrying more valuable stuff every day, and they're not getting bumped off on that regular a basis.

maybe they'll fit the drones with chaff and flares

lloyd

@Sporky I think you've more faith in humans than me, constantly broadcasting their position is meaningless unless there's a viable security team nearby. There's a huge difference between taking down a postie-who is capable of fighting back, identifying you in court, probably backed up by passers by etc and taking out a flying robot. I've worked as a postman in and around the roughest parts of Anfield, Liverpool and always felt fairly safe, even on Giro day, but there were always a few jokes flying about. Where I live now in Salford on the edge of a rough estate, and in the areas I delivered mail in Liverpool there is no chance I would have anything of any value flown in by drone-as a sender or sendee.

Sporky

lloyd said:

@Sporky I think you've more faith in humans than me

Quite possibly!

It also depends on what the drones have onboard; if they have cameras (surely they'd have to?) then anyone attacking or trying to steal one would be recorded. They could easily be bricked if stolen, making it fairly pointless to steal one, and they only need to fly 10m or so up to avoid being hit by thrown stones or bottles.

That leaves people roaming the streets with bows & arrows or guns...

Clarky

would flying over someone's property at low altitude constitute trespass?

Sporky

I think they said that they plotted the route to avoid privacy concerns, so my guess is that means it doesn't fly over private property other than the delivery address.

Clarky

ah that's a shame…
I was about to head off to an army surplus store to see if they had search lights and AA guns
this could spawn a new hobby

Sporky

Maybe they'll have police drones with tazers on board. Or the delivery drones will have tear gas. We live in exciting times.

FX_Munkee

http://www.jammer4uk.com/handheld-antitracking-gpsl1-l2l3l4l5-jammer-j242g-p-29.html
+ air rifle = free donuts for me.

Clarky

haa… measures and counter measures…
this could get fun..

know anyone that has a WWII pom pom gun?

Sporky

That seems like a lot of laws to break for some donuts.

FX_Munkee

I really like donuts