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Not to be a downer, but I think the whole drone delivery thing, at least for now, nothing but a media show. Worked great for Amazon, .... (Maybe the technolog

Not to be a downer, but I think the whole drone delivery thing, at least for now, nothing but a media show. Worked great for Amazon, .... (Maybe the technology will evolve enough later to be cost effective, and tests are important on that path.)

joshkpeterson 12y ago
Agreed. We will see self driving car deliveries before we see drone deliveries.
- 6stringmerc 12y ago
  I'd be willing to bet we see self driving "moped/scooter" deliveries before self driving car deliveries simply because of the physics / liability implications. If reliable car systems can be developed, scaling down makes a lot of sense. Economically, it would be much easier to insure a moped than a car/truck, IMO.
  - lucaspiller 12y ago
    How does the delivery get from the moped on the street to my front door on the 5th floor? Maybe a Segway type thing would work better, it just needs to be able to press the lift buttons.
- jonathantm 12y ago
  [whyNotBoth.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/cpl3U.jpg http://i.imgur.com/cpl3U.jpg)
- marcosdumay 12y ago
  Imagine a few of those things taking off from a self-driving car, doing the delivery, and getting back to it a hundred meters further. The cars have a problem, that they can't get the products to their final destination.
  - esMazer 12y ago
    aircraft carrier for drones brilliant!
__jochen__ 12y ago
It's already happening. Imagine delivery of high-value, light goods to remote locations, e.g. medicines in the Australian Outback, or island off the German coast. These are examples of what has already been done.
- scott_karana 12y ago
  Aren't those places already being served by higher latency deliveries at a much cheaper rate?
  - IanCal 12y ago
    High latencies might be a significant issue for medical supplies. Edit - a good talk on some of the issues that might be faced with traditional delivery systems: https://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_raptopoulos_no_roads_there_s_a_drone_for_that?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_raptopoulos_no_roads_there...
- sly010 12y ago
  Or imagine delivery of low-value goods to close locations. At the moment it takes 30-60 minutes for a restaurant from 3 block away to deliver my lunch and it includes a bicycle, a delivery guy, an elevator guy and a couple of doors and/or doorbells. It costs a few dollars in tip. A drone can bypass all of that inefficiency and show up in my window 60 seconds after the meal is cooked. In New York it could deliver to the fire escape or to a special landing pads, or just hover in front of the 3rd window on the left on the 5th floor for 30 seconds. What happens to the illegal delivery guy living on the tip is an entirely different question.
  - mnem 12y ago
    Why would the delivery guy be illegal? Would humans have to be banned for drones to get used?
    - phaemon 12y ago
      Americans refer to people who live in the USA without government permission as "illegals". These people often take low paid work, such as pizza delivery.
w-ll 12y ago
And for Amazon it was nothing but a PR stunt to get 60 Minutes to do a piece on AMZN the night before Black Friday.
- Chronic31 12y ago
  Amazon has done almost nothing with their drones. Alibaba is.
legulere 12y ago
It seems to work good for smuggling stuff into prisons. Two failed attempts were caught in Germany.

joshkpeterson 12y ago

Agreed. We will see self driving car deliveries before we see drone deliveries.

6stringmerc 12y ago
I'd be willing to bet we see self driving "moped/scooter" deliveries before self driving car deliveries simply because of the physics / liability implications. If reliable car systems can be developed, scaling down makes a lot of sense. Economically, it would be much easier to insure a moped than a car/truck, IMO.
- lucaspiller 12y ago
  How does the delivery get from the moped on the street to my front door on the 5th floor? Maybe a Segway type thing would work better, it just needs to be able to press the lift buttons.
jonathantm 12y ago
[whyNotBoth.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/cpl3U.jpg http://i.imgur.com/cpl3U.jpg)
marcosdumay 12y ago
Imagine a few of those things taking off from a self-driving car, doing the delivery, and getting back to it a hundred meters further. The cars have a problem, that they can't get the products to their final destination.
- esMazer 12y ago
  aircraft carrier for drones brilliant!

__jochen__ 12y ago

It's already happening. Imagine delivery of high-value, light goods to remote locations, e.g. medicines in the Australian Outback, or island off the German coast. These are examples of what has already been done.

scott_karana 12y ago
Aren't those places already being served by higher latency deliveries at a much cheaper rate?
- IanCal 12y ago
  High latencies might be a significant issue for medical supplies. Edit - a good talk on some of the issues that might be faced with traditional delivery systems: https://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_raptopoulos_no_roads_there_s_a_drone_for_that?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_raptopoulos_no_roads_there...
sly010 12y ago
Or imagine delivery of low-value goods to close locations. At the moment it takes 30-60 minutes for a restaurant from 3 block away to deliver my lunch and it includes a bicycle, a delivery guy, an elevator guy and a couple of doors and/or doorbells. It costs a few dollars in tip. A drone can bypass all of that inefficiency and show up in my window 60 seconds after the meal is cooked. In New York it could deliver to the fire escape or to a special landing pads, or just hover in front of the 3rd window on the left on the 5th floor for 30 seconds. What happens to the illegal delivery guy living on the tip is an entirely different question.
- mnem 12y ago
  Why would the delivery guy be illegal? Would humans have to be banned for drones to get used?
  - phaemon 12y ago
    Americans refer to people who live in the USA without government permission as "illegals". These people often take low paid work, such as pizza delivery.

w-ll 12y ago

And for Amazon it was nothing but a PR stunt to get 60 Minutes to do a piece on AMZN the night before Black Friday.

Chronic31 12y ago
Amazon has done almost nothing with their drones. Alibaba is.

legulere 12y ago

It seems to work good for smuggling stuff into prisons. Two failed attempts were caught in Germany.