The mistake, I think, is to see drone delivery as a competitor to ground shipping. Ground will always be cheaper, and self-driving will only further push down t

The mistake, I think, is to see drone delivery as a competitor to ground shipping. Ground will always be cheaper, and self-driving will only further push down the cost. What drones offer that no other shipment method can, in addition to rapid, point-to-point travel, is a completely different economy: As an example, it would be prohibitive to send a truck, even a self-driving one, out on a 40-minute drive from a warehouse for a single on-demand delivery. There’s no such overhead for a drone: You don’t have to wait until a bunch of other orders have piled up; the drone can just head out and make the delivery as soon as it’s loaded. This is obviously overkill for your average Amazon order, but for on-demand services, it’s currently competing with an entire ground vehicle going out for a single delivery. I’d say it’s inevitable that drones will be both cheaper and faster than that.