Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#41

Post by mason240 » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

stevecalifornia wrote: post #20

Vacations are already being soiled by people flying loud drones in areas of natural beauty, now we get to have our day-to-day skies soiled by fleets of drones delivering popcorn. Am I the only one who doesn't want this specifically because of the noise nuisance?

I wonder if future conventions will have business drones only flying over existing surface streets when possible.

Buzzing over the street in my neighborhood is a lot less intrusive than flying directly over my house.

Obviously it would be a longer route, but maybe the trade off would be worth it.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#42

Post by hiddencost » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

randomdrake wrote: post #28

While the technology to move a package from point A to point B safely and autonomously is pretty cool, I think the more interesting story is what will happen to enable this feat. One thing Amazon has done right over the years has been figuring out how to blow away existing practices and technologies in the shipping and fulfillment space to replace or upgrade them with processes or tech allowing for ridiculous savings…

dozens of microservices? --> thousands

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#43

Post by smlacy » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

k26dr wrote: post #10

Anybody know how much it costs them to make one of these deliveries? Is it cost-competitive with a delivery truck?

Cost of specialized drone wherehouse in remote England: $1.2mm Cost of 3+yrs of R&D of drone fleet: $436mm Cost of delivering first package: priceless

I'm not sure how this is ever going to compare with a truck and driver, especially when the truck will be self-driving in less than a decade.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#44

Post by sarreph » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

dabeeeenster wrote: post #34

stevecalifornia wrote: post #20

Vacations are already being soiled by people flying loud drones in areas of natural beauty, now we get to have our day-to-day skies soiled by fleets of drones delivering popcorn. Am I the only one who doesn't want this specifically because of the noise nuisance?

Interesting question - how quiet could a drone get? Presume they are not optimised for sound...?

We just need to pop an anti-gravity engine on the bottom instead of using air-propulsion. Then, to reduce the visual pollution, we just cloak them with an invisibility shield. It's really that simple.

I'm sure Amazon already has this on their roadmap.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#45

Post by hellogoodbyeeee » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

wehadfun wrote: post #37

kaishiro wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you trying to make a point? If so, could you be more clear?

Sure! The comment I replied to, seems to imply that hijacking UPS trucks is a non-existent, or rare event. A simple Google Search seems to indicate that it happens all the time. There for making the original OPs concern somewhat valid.

Your definition of "all the time" includes two news stories in the last year?

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#46

Post by spullara » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

stevecalifornia wrote: post #20

Vacations are already being soiled by people flying loud drones in areas of natural beauty, now we get to have our day-to-day skies soiled by fleets of drones delivering popcorn. Am I the only one who doesn't want this specifically because of the noise nuisance?

You won't be able to hear them on their way to the destination, only near the takeoff and landing.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#47

Post by tantalor » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

elahd wrote: post #32

brenschluss wrote: post #25

I feel like this is a stunt. Drone delivery only works with customers that have private backyards - so won't work in a city, since the payload is unsecured after the drones drop it off. In a suburban/rural context, density is lower, meaning that with the limited range of drones, distribution centers won't be able to take advantage of density. Thus the range of products available at each distribution center will be mu…

>so won't work in a city, since the payload is unsecured after the drones drop it off My building's roof is at least as secure as its lobby.

Generally you are prohibited from accessing your building's roof unless it has a patio.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#48

Post by sp00ls » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

gamegoblin wrote: post #38

stevecalifornia wrote: post #20

Vacations are already being soiled by people flying loud drones in areas of natural beauty, now we get to have our day-to-day skies soiled by fleets of drones delivering popcorn. Am I the only one who doesn't want this specifically because of the noise nuisance?

According to the video, they fly ~400ft up. Can anyone with more quadcopter experience describe how noisy that is? I know they are loud when they are nearby, but 400ft is far.

At 400ft up, you're not going to hear a thing. Would wager that even if I told you it was there you would not be able to locate it in a timely manner, let alone be annoyed by it.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#49

Post by 51Cards » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

elahd wrote: post #32

brenschluss wrote: post #25

I feel like this is a stunt. Drone delivery only works with customers that have private backyards - so won't work in a city, since the payload is unsecured after the drones drop it off. In a suburban/rural context, density is lower, meaning that with the limited range of drones, distribution centers won't be able to take advantage of density. Thus the range of products available at each distribution center will be mu…

>so won't work in a city, since the payload is unsecured after the drones drop it off My building's roof is at least as secure as its lobby.

From everyone else in your building? What's top stop the guy in 5B going "Hey... package... thanks" I see a huge uptick in stolen packages. Heck the drones themselves would make a nice parts source flying free over the city. Just have to pick off a couple of them now and then.

I think the point when this becomes in any way practical is really really far off. Interesting demo for sure but pretty sure I'll never have something delivered this way in my lifetime.

Re: Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

#50

Post by Ph0X » Wed, Dec 14, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

anton_tarasenko wrote: post #35

That's a last mile solution. Comparing to human costs of Amazon's preferred shipping method: USPS's subsidized parcel injection. The last mile belongs to USPS. In the urban environment, that's about 15 minute per parcel at $20 per hour (labor plus trucks). I.e., $5 per parcel. For FedEx, the cost of the entire expedition process is roughly $6.6 per parcel ($43bn cost of revenue for 6.5bn deliveries), so the last mile…

is 10$ the cost the customer pays, or the cost of the delivery? I highly doubt the little electricity (or maintenance cost over time) is 10$ per delivery.

Also, as a straight comparison, drones are faster, scale better and are able to work at hours humans wouldn't. So even if it was 5$ vs 10$, some could argue that it's worth it. Obviously not in all situations, but sometimes there's an item you need right now and not tomorrow.