7 ms·

I wonder how many lives would be lost due to failing drones vs lives saved by the timely delivery of medications/defribillators by waypoint-following autonomous

I wonder how many lives would be lost due to failing drones vs lives saved by the timely delivery of medications/defribillators by waypoint-following autonomous air vehicles. The data will most certainly come either from US military usage or from commercial usage outside the USA. Sad.

eropple 12y ago
There's nothing stopping your hypothetical company from getting FAA permission for a trial, even in an urban area. Yes, it requires one of those "lawyers", and requires you to have more of a plan than just "eh fuck it, light it up," but those are features, not bugs. But nobody's going to be prevented from doing even urban-scale testing if they are actually taking it seriously and involving the communities they wish to experiment within. There's a reason these rules look so much like radio regulations: because screwing it up hurts everyone, so it behooves us not to screw up. Doing dangerous things requires buy-in from more than just your shareholders. And stop with the "oh, woe is us" stuff. It's shitty rhetoric and it doesn't work.
- SlipperySlope 12y ago
  Well we are talking past each other. I predict that timely delivery of life saving medications and medical devices will first happen outside of the USA, in jurisdictions favoring UAV innovation. http://www.uasvision.com/2015/02/10/japan-tests-drone-delivery-to-islands/ http://www.uasvision.com/2015/02/10/japan-tests-drone-delive... http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0209/c98649-8847897.html http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0209/c98649-8847897.html And I predict that the in the USA, the military will lead the way with regard to autonomous air vehicle technology for delivery because not the FAA, nor local equivalents, will constrain them where battles are happening. http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense-news/blog/intercepts/2015/01/02/darpa-drones-intercepts/21196989/ http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense-news/blog/intercept...

eropple 12y ago

There's nothing stopping your hypothetical company from getting FAA permission for a trial, even in an urban area. Yes, it requires one of those "lawyers", and requires you to have more of a plan than just "eh fuck it, light it up," but those are features, not bugs. But nobody's going to be prevented from doing even urban-scale testing if they are actually taking it seriously and involving the communities they wish to experiment within. There's a reason these rules look so much like radio regulations: because screwing it up hurts everyone, so it behooves us not to screw up. Doing dangerous things requires buy-in from more than just your shareholders. And stop with the "oh, woe is us" stuff. It's shitty rhetoric and it doesn't work.

SlipperySlope 12y ago
Well we are talking past each other. I predict that timely delivery of life saving medications and medical devices will first happen outside of the USA, in jurisdictions favoring UAV innovation. http://www.uasvision.com/2015/02/10/japan-tests-drone-delivery-to-islands/ http://www.uasvision.com/2015/02/10/japan-tests-drone-delive... http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0209/c98649-8847897.html http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0209/c98649-8847897.html And I predict that the in the USA, the military will lead the way with regard to autonomous air vehicle technology for delivery because not the FAA, nor local equivalents, will constrain them where battles are happening. http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense-news/blog/intercepts/2015/01/02/darpa-drones-intercepts/21196989/ http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense-news/blog/intercept...