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Aside from the aforementioned "Skyport" landing pad installed in large buildings, I do not see drones becoming a large part of daily life so long as there's a h

Aside from the aforementioned "Skyport" landing pad installed in large buildings, I do not see drones becoming a large part of daily life so long as there's a housing crisis (In the U.S. anyway). What does a housing crisis have to do with drones?: NIMBYism The same forces that compel municipalities to heavily restrict the height of a single family home, or absurd setbacks on all sides of the property line etc, are the same forces that will absolutely not tolerate a neighbor constantly having drones buzz in and out of their property and neighborhood. If you've heard a drone fly nearby before, you may be inclined to agree, those things are loud. Until there's a way to fly drones around silently, I see no sensible path to mass market drones. This isn't an endorsement for or against delivery drones at all, personally I think it would be amazingly convenient, but I also think building densely around transit stations as convenient too, yet NIMBYism in the Bay has all but put a stop to that.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Other than wealthy suburbs that are exclusive by their very nature the "housing crisis" only exists in a couple cities. Those "forces" of which you speak don't seem to exist (or if they do they don't have teeth) in most places.
- curuinor 6y ago
  the crisis doesn't exist for most lumps of land, but it exists for most _people_ because the places where the housing crisis is, is where the people are. NYC has more people in it than a third of the landmass of the US
  - jcims 6y ago
    For people that don't have the means to find housing nor the ability to relocate it's fair to call it a crisis. Their health and welfare is directly at risk and they have limited facility to do anything about it. For everyone else I'd call it a shortage.
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    >the crisis doesn't exist for most lumps of land, but it exists for most _people_ No it does not. This "crisis" is mostly a west coast thing and mostly confined to CA at that. Boston, NYC , DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas do not have these problems. You need to be wealthy to live in their wealthy suburbs or downtown but every city on the planet is like that and for the most part these cities do not have any sort of housing "crisis". Rents are always higher than people would prefer but for the most part housing is available at all price points in these cities.
- closeparen 6y ago
  The insistence on low-intensity suburbia is everywhere, it’s just that most metro areas can make arbitrarily much of it. Why fight with the neighbors over infill when there’s a cornfield next to an interstate 15 minutes from downtown?
magicsmoke 6y ago
Miniature blimps maybe?
pm90 6y ago
You could have drone ports installed in convenient locations like Amazon locker. In fact, just build out Amazon lockers supplied by drones all over your city. They could handle like 90% of traffic? The large packages would still be delivered by humans. Or maybe ... have them dropped off at the drone port, and then have a wheeled bot make the last mile delivery, since they are quieter.
- sgtnoodle 6y ago
  It seems like drones will mainly be delivering stuff that's locally available anyway, since otherwise it will be at least an overnight lead time and so the package might as well be delivered via truck that's cheaper to operate. If you have to go to a convenient centralized location to pick up a locally available item, you might as well just go to the store and buy the item without involving a drone. Maybe if you have drones with a large enough service radius, you can centralize warehouses enough to have a much better selection than convenience stores. If you're still delivering to centralized lockers, though, it seems like packages could be batched in trucks as they currently are. I suspect sparsely filled trucks would still be cheaper to operate than drones, even with similar delivery times. The value of drone based delivery really seems to me to be in getting packages exactly where they are needed faster and cheaper than sending it via direct courier.
xwdv 6y ago
You could fly a drone right now in and out of your property and no one will stop you. It’s an uphill battle to say deliveries are not allowed. That means personal flights are not allowed. Like really what the fuck are you gonna do? You’re not the FAA (not saying you personally, you as in general).
- Groxx 6y ago
  Depending on your neighbors, though they may not be the FAA: yeah, FAA could shut it down rather quick. The broad rules are fairly restrictive: https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/ https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/ In particular, 5: Keep your drone within your visual line of sight, ... and 8: Never fly over any person or moving vehicle. are a bit hard to achieve in residential areas, unless it stays within your yard.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

Other than wealthy suburbs that are exclusive by their very nature the "housing crisis" only exists in a couple cities. Those "forces" of which you speak don't seem to exist (or if they do they don't have teeth) in most places.

curuinor 6y ago
the crisis doesn't exist for most lumps of land, but it exists for most _people_ because the places where the housing crisis is, is where the people are. NYC has more people in it than a third of the landmass of the US
- jcims 6y ago
  For people that don't have the means to find housing nor the ability to relocate it's fair to call it a crisis. Their health and welfare is directly at risk and they have limited facility to do anything about it. For everyone else I'd call it a shortage.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  >the crisis doesn't exist for most lumps of land, but it exists for most _people_ No it does not. This "crisis" is mostly a west coast thing and mostly confined to CA at that. Boston, NYC , DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas do not have these problems. You need to be wealthy to live in their wealthy suburbs or downtown but every city on the planet is like that and for the most part these cities do not have any sort of housing "crisis". Rents are always higher than people would prefer but for the most part housing is available at all price points in these cities.
closeparen 6y ago
The insistence on low-intensity suburbia is everywhere, it’s just that most metro areas can make arbitrarily much of it. Why fight with the neighbors over infill when there’s a cornfield next to an interstate 15 minutes from downtown?

magicsmoke 6y ago

Miniature blimps maybe?

pm90 6y ago

You could have drone ports installed in convenient locations like Amazon locker. In fact, just build out Amazon lockers supplied by drones all over your city. They could handle like 90% of traffic? The large packages would still be delivered by humans. Or maybe ... have them dropped off at the drone port, and then have a wheeled bot make the last mile delivery, since they are quieter.

sgtnoodle 6y ago
It seems like drones will mainly be delivering stuff that's locally available anyway, since otherwise it will be at least an overnight lead time and so the package might as well be delivered via truck that's cheaper to operate. If you have to go to a convenient centralized location to pick up a locally available item, you might as well just go to the store and buy the item without involving a drone. Maybe if you have drones with a large enough service radius, you can centralize warehouses enough to have a much better selection than convenience stores. If you're still delivering to centralized lockers, though, it seems like packages could be batched in trucks as they currently are. I suspect sparsely filled trucks would still be cheaper to operate than drones, even with similar delivery times. The value of drone based delivery really seems to me to be in getting packages exactly where they are needed faster and cheaper than sending it via direct courier.

xwdv 6y ago

You could fly a drone right now in and out of your property and no one will stop you. It’s an uphill battle to say deliveries are not allowed. That means personal flights are not allowed. Like really what the fuck are you gonna do? You’re not the FAA (not saying you personally, you as in general).

Groxx 6y ago
Depending on your neighbors, though they may not be the FAA: yeah, FAA could shut it down rather quick. The broad rules are fairly restrictive: https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/ https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/ In particular, 5: Keep your drone within your visual line of sight, ... and 8: Never fly over any person or moving vehicle. are a bit hard to achieve in residential areas, unless it stays within your yard.