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Sure but there's a tradeoff with ground transport. A drone can make the trip with much shorter traveled distance and potentially higher speed, resulting in hig
by jcims 3y ago
Sure but there's a tradeoff with ground transport. A drone can make the trip with much shorter traveled distance and potentially higher speed, resulting in higher utilization per vehicle. It also doesn't interfere with road traffic, which could have externalities in longer idle time for other vehicles at intersections and whatnot.
Both are better than Garret in his 2007 Ford Explorer driving around town all day delivering timbits and tacos.
- dwighttk 3y agoGarret’ll get there in a hurricane though
- wolfram74 3y agoI was raised to consider ordering takeout in truly awful weather as pretty rude.
- randmeerkat 3y ago> I was raised to consider ordering takeout in truly awful weather as pretty rude. What’s more rude? Ordering takeout in bad weather, or not ordering takeout and indirectly punishing the delivery driver’s livelihood whenever the weather is bad..?
- crazygringo 3y agoI realize that has good intentions, but it's actually terrible advice. Delivery drivers are paid basically solely with your tips. If you don't order, they don't make any money that day. If you want to be nice, order that delivery, but tip more. Bad weather is actually their favorite because people tip more.
- philsnow 3y agoThere might be different ideas of what makes “bad” weather. Some Californians think that any weather at all is bad, and some midwesterners think “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only wrong clothing”. I wouldn’t hesitate to order delivery if it were raining or snowing, but maybe in this world there are people who would still order delivery during a tornado warning (because that way they don’t have to risk driving during a tornado).
- crazygringo 3y agoThe responsibility is not on you as a consumer. If it's genuinely life-threatening out, an actual tornado warning, then nobody's delivering in the first place. You can't order delivery even if you want. It's up to the business and driver (or mayor ordering all non-essential vehicles off the road). Not you.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Someone1234 3y ago> resulting in higher utilization per vehicle A van can hold thousands of 2-ounce packages, whereas a drone can hold one. If you look at it in terms of a one-package utilization rate, a van has over 100% rate, because it holds multiple packages, in fact it may have over a 1000% utilization rate using that metric. You're essentially wasting tons of energy and resources getting very small packages delivered faster, but in urban setting there are no efficiencies here, quite the contrary.
- hypertele-Xii 3y agoClear example: Hospitals have helicopters, but most patients are still moved using vans. The helicopter is faster (when patient's life is acutely ending), but prohibitively expensive to utilize for every patient.
- janosdebugs 3y agoThat example doesn't quite hold up. A helicopter is roughly the same size and weight as an ambulance and needs to transport a whole bunch of equipment. If we could get a Zipline drone to drive on the street, it would be vastly more efficient than its airborne brethren, but our infrastructure isn't set up for that.
- dgacmu 3y agoIt's also a lot more dangerous, both for the patient and the flight crew. It takes a pretty critical need to offset that.
- Breza 3y agoI've long thought there's potential in using drones to transport drugs and light equipment to hospitals. Crewed helicopters are expensive and risky, but the stakes are lower when your drone is only carrying a few thousand dollars of a drug that's rare enough it's not worth stocking.
- cancerhacker 3y ago
- purpleflame1257 3y agoTimbits and Tacos sounds like an amazing D&D parody.