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The part I've been thinking about and don't have a good answer to is, where would the drones fly? The best answer I've come up with is directly overhead non-hi

by bdamm 12y ago

The part I've been thinking about and don't have a good answer to is, where would the drones fly? The best answer I've come up with is directly overhead non-highway surface streets. Or put another way, where is it OK for drones to crash? I do think the FAA is too risk adverse, and they ought to allow less-limited market trials in large metropolitan areas. The current UAS plan is good but too conservative.

NoPiece 12y ago
But you should also consider where it is OK for delivery trucks to crash, and whether a drone crash or truck crash is more likely to cause damage or injury.
- bdamm 12y ago
  Hence overhead non-highway surface streets. Drones are typically fairly small, smaller than delivery trucks. And hopefully the drone operators can figure out how to avoid power lines, overhead trains, etc. Wind could blow a non-functioning (or even worse, incorrectly vectored) drone off the street as it falls towards the ground. A market test could start off by declaring streets OK for overhead drone activity. I bet if the FAA opened it up to cities to decide whether it's OK for a drone to operate commercially above their streets, you'd get dozens or hundreds of cities move to allow it. Starting with Seattle.
  - cpncrunch 12y ago
    I'm not sure why you think it would be okay to fly over non-highway streets, where presumably there will be pedestrians. Already there has been an injury caused by a drone falling on top of someone (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26921504 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26921504). Regarding avoiding power lines: is that actually feasible? Either you have to program a GPS route from the warehouse to the delivery address avoiding all obstructions, or you have to use some kind of radar so that you can detect obstructions even in fog (or maybe just not operate in low visibiliity). It's not a trivial problem, and I'm not sure if the proponents have really thought it out. PS, if you're going to downvote my comment, at least explain why.
    - vehementi 12y ago
      Don't worry, there's a whole lot of posts in this thread that terrified would-be censorers have tried to hide! You're not alone!
TeMPOraL 12y ago
I've been thinking about it too, in particular, how would a drone company go about getting insurance. A 5-10kg brick falling from 30 meters on a person or a road can do a lot of damage, both directly and by causing traffic accidents.

by bdamm 12y ago

NoPiece 12y ago

But you should also consider where it is OK for delivery trucks to crash, and whether a drone crash or truck crash is more likely to cause damage or injury.

bdamm 12y ago
Hence overhead non-highway surface streets. Drones are typically fairly small, smaller than delivery trucks. And hopefully the drone operators can figure out how to avoid power lines, overhead trains, etc. Wind could blow a non-functioning (or even worse, incorrectly vectored) drone off the street as it falls towards the ground. A market test could start off by declaring streets OK for overhead drone activity. I bet if the FAA opened it up to cities to decide whether it's OK for a drone to operate commercially above their streets, you'd get dozens or hundreds of cities move to allow it. Starting with Seattle.
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  I'm not sure why you think it would be okay to fly over non-highway streets, where presumably there will be pedestrians. Already there has been an injury caused by a drone falling on top of someone (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26921504 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26921504). Regarding avoiding power lines: is that actually feasible? Either you have to program a GPS route from the warehouse to the delivery address avoiding all obstructions, or you have to use some kind of radar so that you can detect obstructions even in fog (or maybe just not operate in low visibiliity). It's not a trivial problem, and I'm not sure if the proponents have really thought it out. PS, if you're going to downvote my comment, at least explain why.
  - vehementi 12y ago
    Don't worry, there's a whole lot of posts in this thread that terrified would-be censorers have tried to hide! You're not alone!

TeMPOraL 12y ago

I've been thinking about it too, in particular, how would a drone company go about getting insurance. A 5-10kg brick falling from 30 meters on a person or a road can do a lot of damage, both directly and by causing traffic accidents.