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I've been joking for awhile now that UPS/FedEx trucks could become 'aircraft carriers', carrying a set of drones along with the packages, using the drones for t

I've been joking for awhile now that UPS/FedEx trucks could become 'aircraft carriers', carrying a set of drones along with the packages, using the drones for the 'last mile' of delivery.

hliyan 6y ago
That's actually a great idea. I don't know why it hasn't been tried out (or if it has, why it didn't work out).
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
  Probably issues with charging. Super capacitor based drones would probably be the best outcome (if we could figure out how to harness the power)
  - pjmorris 6y ago
    Charging issues: The trucks could carry spare batteries and chargers.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    If the drones spend a decent amount of time on the truck it doesn't need anything too exotic. You will need to outfit the trucks with beefy alternators/gensets though. There are still several issues with this scheme. The drone needs to be autonomous enough to know when to take off, which partially involves knowing the trucks current and future route information. It also needs to be able to navigate safely in low level flight to the destination, and be able to safely drop the package off. The original prototype delivery required homeowners to build a small helipad in their back yard to get packages, which is impractical. The drone then needs to be able to fly back to the truck, knowing exactly where the truck is and where it will be in a few minutes and possibly land on a moving vehicle with enough precision to hook up the charging system and somehow select and attach the next package for delivery. When you look into the details this is a horrendously complex system. Some of the tech isn't really there yet and the rest requires a whole elephant load of integration and testing. There are loads of things that can go wrong. The truck might get diverted around roadwork, or be in an accident, or there could be kids playing in the yard when the drone arrives with the package and nowhere safe to land, territorial birds may attack the drone, or the battery pack on the drone might fail and catch fire, a no-fly NOTAM may appear suddenly over your delivery area, or so on and so forth.
foobarian 6y ago
That's how the Protoss Postal Service does it! Joking aside when Amazon's drone program first made news I thought they were going to make a deal with USPS to use the gazillion post office offices as drone bases. Guess it never went anywhere.
- VectorLock 6y ago
  Lots of broad flat roofs on Whole Foods.
- rtkwe 6y ago
  USPS is legally blocked from offering any services besides postal services, one of the reasons they're doing so bad among many, and this seems vaguely delivery but outside the bounds.
  - nodrones123 6y ago
    That’s not true at all. USPS offers notary services, passport services, money orders, and many other services besides. The reason USPS is having financial troubles is because conservative extremists in the American government have put huge financial burdens on them like fully funding their medical plan 10 years in advance in a blatant attempt at bankrupting one of the few Federal agencies specifically enumerated in the Constitution so they can then sell this services to FedEx and UPS and make huge gains for shareholders.
    - muststopmyths 6y ago
      It's actually a requirement to fund 75 years of retirement costs in 10 years ($75 billion). And it was passed with broad bipartisan support. I wish people would stop repeating the canard about "conservative extremists" with respect to this law. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/15/postal-service-bailout-congress/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/15/postal-se...
      - karpierz 6y ago
creaghpatr 6y ago
That's a really cool idea.
0xffff2 6y ago
That's always been one of the primary plans for package delivery...
garrettgrimsley 6y ago
This was my truck on Monday. Where should we put these dozens(?) of drones? https://imgur.com/a/wBn2Pfh https://imgur.com/a/wBn2Pfh That amount of packages is not extraordinary, and in my car was more full today. I’m on lunch now, 166 stops down, 42 stops to go.
- WhompingWindows 6y ago
  How many of the packages are smaller than a shoebox? How many are lighter than 5 pounds? Could drones doing this from a specialized place on top of the van save you some stops?
  - garrettgrimsley 6y ago
    Plenty, and I see where you’re coming from, but in the end the amount of work would increase to fill any saved labor.
Fabricio20 6y ago
That's exactly what patent US9305280B1 [0] from Amazon describes! I personally think this could work particularly well, maybe not with blimps but with trucks doing optimized routes and deploying drones for the last mile. [0] https://patents.google.com/patent/US9305280B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US9305280B1/en

I've been joking for awhile now that UPS/FedEx trucks could become 'aircraft carriers', carrying a set of drones along with the packages, using the drones for the 'last mile' of delivery.

hliyan 6y ago

That's actually a great idea. I don't know why it hasn't been tried out (or if it has, why it didn't work out).

WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
Probably issues with charging. Super capacitor based drones would probably be the best outcome (if we could figure out how to harness the power)
- pjmorris 6y ago
  Charging issues: The trucks could carry spare batteries and chargers.
- jandrese 6y ago
  If the drones spend a decent amount of time on the truck it doesn't need anything too exotic. You will need to outfit the trucks with beefy alternators/gensets though. There are still several issues with this scheme. The drone needs to be autonomous enough to know when to take off, which partially involves knowing the trucks current and future route information. It also needs to be able to navigate safely in low level flight to the destination, and be able to safely drop the package off. The original prototype delivery required homeowners to build a small helipad in their back yard to get packages, which is impractical. The drone then needs to be able to fly back to the truck, knowing exactly where the truck is and where it will be in a few minutes and possibly land on a moving vehicle with enough precision to hook up the charging system and somehow select and attach the next package for delivery. When you look into the details this is a horrendously complex system. Some of the tech isn't really there yet and the rest requires a whole elephant load of integration and testing. There are loads of things that can go wrong. The truck might get diverted around roadwork, or be in an accident, or there could be kids playing in the yard when the drone arrives with the package and nowhere safe to land, territorial birds may attack the drone, or the battery pack on the drone might fail and catch fire, a no-fly NOTAM may appear suddenly over your delivery area, or so on and so forth.

foobarian 6y ago

That's how the Protoss Postal Service does it! Joking aside when Amazon's drone program first made news I thought they were going to make a deal with USPS to use the gazillion post office offices as drone bases. Guess it never went anywhere.

VectorLock 6y ago
Lots of broad flat roofs on Whole Foods.
rtkwe 6y ago
USPS is legally blocked from offering any services besides postal services, one of the reasons they're doing so bad among many, and this seems vaguely delivery but outside the bounds.
- nodrones123 6y ago
  That’s not true at all. USPS offers notary services, passport services, money orders, and many other services besides. The reason USPS is having financial troubles is because conservative extremists in the American government have put huge financial burdens on them like fully funding their medical plan 10 years in advance in a blatant attempt at bankrupting one of the few Federal agencies specifically enumerated in the Constitution so they can then sell this services to FedEx and UPS and make huge gains for shareholders.
  - muststopmyths 6y ago
    It's actually a requirement to fund 75 years of retirement costs in 10 years ($75 billion). And it was passed with broad bipartisan support. I wish people would stop repeating the canard about "conservative extremists" with respect to this law. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/15/postal-service-bailout-congress/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/15/postal-se...
    - karpierz 6y ago

creaghpatr 6y ago

That's a really cool idea.

0xffff2 6y ago

That's always been one of the primary plans for package delivery...

garrettgrimsley 6y ago

This was my truck on Monday. Where should we put these dozens(?) of drones? https://imgur.com/a/wBn2Pfh https://imgur.com/a/wBn2Pfh That amount of packages is not extraordinary, and in my car was more full today. I’m on lunch now, 166 stops down, 42 stops to go.

WhompingWindows 6y ago
How many of the packages are smaller than a shoebox? How many are lighter than 5 pounds? Could drones doing this from a specialized place on top of the van save you some stops?
- garrettgrimsley 6y ago
  Plenty, and I see where you’re coming from, but in the end the amount of work would increase to fill any saved labor.

Fabricio20 6y ago

That's exactly what patent US9305280B1 [0] from Amazon describes! I personally think this could work particularly well, maybe not with blimps but with trucks doing optimized routes and deploying drones for the last mile. [0] https://patents.google.com/patent/US9305280B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US9305280B1/en