6 ms·

Uber Ambitiously Eyes 2021 for Food-Delivery Drones

27 points by prostoalex 8y ago

kerng 8y ago
Curious. What will the details look like? Is this for countryside or houses with yard, or condos also?
softwarefounder 8y ago
Trying to be first at a game no one wants to play.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  Uber want to play it. That's what the entire article is about. Amazon also want to play it - they've done several public demos of the concept.
  - ProAm 8y ago
    Uber wants to play at anything that will make them profitable and give them an exit.
    - softwarefounder 8y ago
      Yes - this is clearly a bad idea that fails the common sense test. But it will add more assets, higher value, etc. And another reason they may get bought
  - Maxious 8y ago
    Alphabet are also demonstrating aerial deployment of burritos https://www.gearbrain.com/google-alphabet-burrito-drone-deliveries-2497517398.html https://www.gearbrain.com/google-alphabet-burrito-drone-deli...
tcoff91 8y ago
The idea of a world where beehive-esque drone noise is ubiquitous is terrifying to me. That sounds like a truly awful future. It's going to be real shitty to be outside once there are hundreds of drones flying around all over the damn place. Road noise is bad enough.
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  Yeah I do agree. Road noise is really bad and leafblowers are even worse. If there are hundreds of leafblowers buzzing around outside my house, I'm going to be really really angry because I signed a social contract that basically says I can't do anything crazy, but suddenly big corps can?
  - rightbyte 8y ago
    A sudden strike from the wind and they will cut your throat or cut out your eyes. Imagine the paranoia walking on the street.
    - screye 8y ago
      I get where you are coming from, but this is an non-factor. Drones can be built to be very safe with jet-engine like enclosures. Also, Their power will mostly likely be nowhere enough to cause significant damage to a human. A heavy object falling on a head and causing real damage.... now that's a more likely event. __________ If drones are sufficiently regulated : 1. Can't fly over private property, regions with many kids. 2. Prefer to be flown above roads 3. Drone owner liable for damages Then I can see them being a great replacement humans in food delivery. I don't think they will be louder than a car or a motor-bike any way.
      - vkou 8y ago
        > 1. Can't fly over private property, regions with many kids. Most private property has much lower persons/square meter then public property. If a drone falling out of the sky is a factor, I'd much rather see it happen into a back yard, or onto a rooftop, as opposed to a city street.
bennettfeely 8y ago
Will be fun to see the inevitable YouTube videos of these as clay pigeons.
- crooked-v 8y ago
  ...followed by various arrests for self-documented destruction of property.
  - bdcravens 8y ago
    Probably more likely to be charged with unlawful discharge than property destruction, especially if their property crosses my property without my explicit consent. Though by then there will likely be FAA protections in place.
    - crooked-v 8y ago
      "Your property" ends at 500 feet up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights#United_States
      - ghaff 8y ago
        There's a lot of ambiguity about air rights and it's never been precisely defined by either the legislature or the judiciary. It wasn't a big deal before drones (outside of a real estate context). And under current FAA rules drones typically have to stay under 400 ft. It will be "interesting" to see this plays out. It seems obvious that regulations won't allow routine and widespread drone delivery flights to fly a few hundred feet over personal property--given that I suspect a lot of people would be really unhappy about this.
        bdcravens 8y ago
        I think people in general are freaked out about drones; there's been too many stories of hovering drones with cameras while children play in the pool. FUD or not, it's a concern.
aeternus 8y ago
Hopefully the FAA holds Uber to a higher standard than the Arizona DOT did. Uber's history and culture of skirting regulation is concerning when it comes to aviation.
ArcticCelt 8y ago
I really wonder how the full delivery scenario is envisioned. Where do the Drone deliver the package? In front of my home? Do I have to go climb on top of roof? Does it call me or send me and SMS once it's there or do I need to stand outside?
- ghaff 8y ago
  One of the challenges here would seem to be that the places where this could most obviously work (where you have standalone houses with space around them) simultaneously tend to have a lot fewer takeout delivery options today. Maybe this hypothetical delivery service would increase the delivery range but it's not obvious why it would. Conversely, this would be very challenging in a city and there are tons of cheap delivery options already.
decebalus1 8y ago
Ambitiously solving such a hard problem: the convenience of having food brought up to your house. Hot dang! Next up, the drone will drop the food right into your mouth. Premium customers will have the drone chew the food on its way to your house. I wonder how far we will go in the interest of convenience. There are such hard and pressing problems right now in the world and a company wasting money trying to fill the sky with buzzing drones delivering food to fat lazy assholes is being labeled as ambitious. Is this the near future we want? Do we really _need_ a beehive of buzzing drones because we're so busy we can't just go out and fucking buy food? Give me a break...
- natrik 8y ago
  "for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality." - Socrates on writing/reading The existence of hard and pressing problems does not mean all resources should be diverted to them - capitalism. I feel you're exaggerating a bit much, though I get what you're trying to say.
  - decebalus1 8y ago
    re-reading my post and I agree with you, I think I'm exaggerating. Perhaps I'm having a depressing “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.” moment. I feel like all this money and energy is being thrown at crap that will eventually work against our best interests as a society.
  - throw11a 8y ago
    To put this in context [1], Socrates is repeating a story about an Egyptian king responding to an Egyptian god who invented writing. Socrates does mostly agree with the king. I disagree with Socrates that wise teachers would only put their thoughts down in writing for amusement, but his general point is that you can't ask books questions and they can't defend themselves, and that they aren't the best way of transferring knowledge from person to person. If you ever read a book critically, or if you appreciate a lecture or a live teacher to understand material instead of a textbook, you agree with him in ways. Also, the entire world has had oral traditions outside of writing for the millennia since Socrates that have only been recently stamped down by radio and TV. [1] http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.htm http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.h... edit: There was more time between the invention of Egyptian writing (which the Greek alphabet was ultimately derived from) and Socrates than between the death of Socrates and today, so it's not like he didn't understand the use of writing, or thought it was some new-fangled thing.
stevecalifornia 8y ago
Why do delivery drones need to fly? Why can't we have small, autonomous, road-based delivery drones?
- chongli 8y ago
  Because as complicated as flight is, it's much easier for a computer to handle than navigating roads around cars and pedestrians.
rayvy 8y ago
At this point it seems like Uber's strategy is the following: 1. Gather a bunch of PMs 2. Put them all in a room and have them put wacky ideas into a large hat 3. Pull ideas out of the hat, and go with the first one that sounds decent
- opportune 8y ago
  This is basically every large company that overhires PMs
lechiffre10 8y ago
Providing the solution to a problem that doesn't exist
- mdonahoe 8y ago
  “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate...” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
harry8 8y ago
Uber pulls the drone announcement con, yet again, for free coverage in th WSJ. Nobody is delivering anything by drone anytime soon. WSJ were conned by it, were you? A more interesting questions is: What is your estimate of how much this is worth in uber advertising?

27 points by prostoalex 8y ago

kerng 8y ago

Curious. What will the details look like? Is this for countryside or houses with yard, or condos also?

softwarefounder 8y ago

Trying to be first at a game no one wants to play.

chrisseaton 8y ago
Uber want to play it. That's what the entire article is about. Amazon also want to play it - they've done several public demos of the concept.
- ProAm 8y ago
  Uber wants to play at anything that will make them profitable and give them an exit.
  - softwarefounder 8y ago
    Yes - this is clearly a bad idea that fails the common sense test. But it will add more assets, higher value, etc. And another reason they may get bought
- Maxious 8y ago
  Alphabet are also demonstrating aerial deployment of burritos https://www.gearbrain.com/google-alphabet-burrito-drone-deliveries-2497517398.html https://www.gearbrain.com/google-alphabet-burrito-drone-deli...

tcoff91 8y ago

The idea of a world where beehive-esque drone noise is ubiquitous is terrifying to me. That sounds like a truly awful future. It's going to be real shitty to be outside once there are hundreds of drones flying around all over the damn place. Road noise is bad enough.

anoncoward111 8y ago
Yeah I do agree. Road noise is really bad and leafblowers are even worse. If there are hundreds of leafblowers buzzing around outside my house, I'm going to be really really angry because I signed a social contract that basically says I can't do anything crazy, but suddenly big corps can?
- rightbyte 8y ago
  A sudden strike from the wind and they will cut your throat or cut out your eyes. Imagine the paranoia walking on the street.
  - screye 8y ago
    I get where you are coming from, but this is an non-factor. Drones can be built to be very safe with jet-engine like enclosures. Also, Their power will mostly likely be nowhere enough to cause significant damage to a human. A heavy object falling on a head and causing real damage.... now that's a more likely event. __________ If drones are sufficiently regulated : 1. Can't fly over private property, regions with many kids. 2. Prefer to be flown above roads 3. Drone owner liable for damages Then I can see them being a great replacement humans in food delivery. I don't think they will be louder than a car or a motor-bike any way.
    - vkou 8y ago
      > 1. Can't fly over private property, regions with many kids. Most private property has much lower persons/square meter then public property. If a drone falling out of the sky is a factor, I'd much rather see it happen into a back yard, or onto a rooftop, as opposed to a city street.

bennettfeely 8y ago

Will be fun to see the inevitable YouTube videos of these as clay pigeons.

crooked-v 8y ago
...followed by various arrests for self-documented destruction of property.
- bdcravens 8y ago
  Probably more likely to be charged with unlawful discharge than property destruction, especially if their property crosses my property without my explicit consent. Though by then there will likely be FAA protections in place.
  - crooked-v 8y ago
    "Your property" ends at 500 feet up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights#United_States
    - ghaff 8y ago
      There's a lot of ambiguity about air rights and it's never been precisely defined by either the legislature or the judiciary. It wasn't a big deal before drones (outside of a real estate context). And under current FAA rules drones typically have to stay under 400 ft. It will be "interesting" to see this plays out. It seems obvious that regulations won't allow routine and widespread drone delivery flights to fly a few hundred feet over personal property--given that I suspect a lot of people would be really unhappy about this.
      - bdcravens 8y ago
        I think people in general are freaked out about drones; there's been too many stories of hovering drones with cameras while children play in the pool. FUD or not, it's a concern.

aeternus 8y ago

Hopefully the FAA holds Uber to a higher standard than the Arizona DOT did. Uber's history and culture of skirting regulation is concerning when it comes to aviation.

ArcticCelt 8y ago

I really wonder how the full delivery scenario is envisioned. Where do the Drone deliver the package? In front of my home? Do I have to go climb on top of roof? Does it call me or send me and SMS once it's there or do I need to stand outside?

ghaff 8y ago
One of the challenges here would seem to be that the places where this could most obviously work (where you have standalone houses with space around them) simultaneously tend to have a lot fewer takeout delivery options today. Maybe this hypothetical delivery service would increase the delivery range but it's not obvious why it would. Conversely, this would be very challenging in a city and there are tons of cheap delivery options already.

decebalus1 8y ago

Ambitiously solving such a hard problem: the convenience of having food brought up to your house. Hot dang! Next up, the drone will drop the food right into your mouth. Premium customers will have the drone chew the food on its way to your house. I wonder how far we will go in the interest of convenience. There are such hard and pressing problems right now in the world and a company wasting money trying to fill the sky with buzzing drones delivering food to fat lazy assholes is being labeled as ambitious. Is this the near future we want? Do we really _need_ a beehive of buzzing drones because we're so busy we can't just go out and fucking buy food? Give me a break...

natrik 8y ago
"for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality." - Socrates on writing/reading The existence of hard and pressing problems does not mean all resources should be diverted to them - capitalism. I feel you're exaggerating a bit much, though I get what you're trying to say.
- decebalus1 8y ago
  re-reading my post and I agree with you, I think I'm exaggerating. Perhaps I'm having a depressing “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.” moment. I feel like all this money and energy is being thrown at crap that will eventually work against our best interests as a society.
- throw11a 8y ago
  To put this in context [1], Socrates is repeating a story about an Egyptian king responding to an Egyptian god who invented writing. Socrates does mostly agree with the king. I disagree with Socrates that wise teachers would only put their thoughts down in writing for amusement, but his general point is that you can't ask books questions and they can't defend themselves, and that they aren't the best way of transferring knowledge from person to person. If you ever read a book critically, or if you appreciate a lecture or a live teacher to understand material instead of a textbook, you agree with him in ways. Also, the entire world has had oral traditions outside of writing for the millennia since Socrates that have only been recently stamped down by radio and TV. [1] http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.htm http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.h... edit: There was more time between the invention of Egyptian writing (which the Greek alphabet was ultimately derived from) and Socrates than between the death of Socrates and today, so it's not like he didn't understand the use of writing, or thought it was some new-fangled thing.

stevecalifornia 8y ago

Why do delivery drones need to fly? Why can't we have small, autonomous, road-based delivery drones?

chongli 8y ago
Because as complicated as flight is, it's much easier for a computer to handle than navigating roads around cars and pedestrians.

rayvy 8y ago

At this point it seems like Uber's strategy is the following: 1. Gather a bunch of PMs 2. Put them all in a room and have them put wacky ideas into a large hat 3. Pull ideas out of the hat, and go with the first one that sounds decent

opportune 8y ago
This is basically every large company that overhires PMs

lechiffre10 8y ago

Providing the solution to a problem that doesn't exist

mdonahoe 8y ago
“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate...” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

harry8 8y ago

Uber pulls the drone announcement con, yet again, for free coverage in th WSJ. Nobody is delivering anything by drone anytime soon. WSJ were conned by it, were you? A more interesting questions is: What is your estimate of how much this is worth in uber advertising?