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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).

by hliyan 6y ago

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.

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).

by 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).

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.