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Amazon has made its first drone delivery to an actual customer

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

#61

Post by wehadfun »

hellogoodbyeeee wrote: post #31
wehadfun wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UPS truck hijacked in Chicago: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/12/01/thieves-steal-package... UPS truck hijacked in Boston: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/11/10/dorchester-ups-truck-c... UPS truck hijacked in Milwaukee: http://fox6now.com/2015/12/11/it-seems-to-be-getting-worse-m... UPS truck hijacked in Florida: http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/... Georgia: http://www.cbs46.com/story/153…

How many UPS trucks are on the road on any given day? How does that number compare to your five news stories over the last five years?

You know that more than 5 UPS trucks have been hijacked in the last 5 years so I don't know why you are asking me for such a silly comparison. I have no proof but I would guess amount of people that will [Hijack a UPS truck] < [Shoot down a drone].

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

#62

Post by jonknee »

smlacy wrote: post #43
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.

How's that self driving truck going to get the package to the door?

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

#63

Post by function_seven »

smlacy wrote: post #36
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?

Agreed on the perceived futility of these efforts. Even Amazon knows its silly: "First starting with 2 customers and the moving to DOZENS!" Woo hoo good job guys! But first can we please solve the leafblower problem? Modern american suburbia is already ruined by an almost constant 120dB buzz and pollution & smell of cheap 2-stroke engine exhaust.

My prediction within the next 10 years, a majority of jurisdictions will ban 2-stroke leaf blowers. Electric leaf blowers are a thing now. A combination of pollution control and noise control, along with a viable alternative, will gather enough support for these bans.

(I’m not sure what portion of leaf blower noise is caused by the fan vs. the engine. I suspect even if the fan creates the larger component, it’s probably less annoying than the buzz of a two stroke engine).

EDIT: At the moment, I think gas powered units are still more powerful. But with battery technology going the way it is, and prices falling, I’d be surprised if a backpack electric unit doesn’t become cheap enough to rival current gas units. And even with some reduced power, users may prefer it to having to mix oil and maintain the units.

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

#64

Post by John23832 »

FroshKiller wrote: post #40
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…

I live in an urban area in the US. UPS, FedEx, and the USPS all drop my packages off unsecured at my front door as it is. What difference does it make whether it's a person in a truck or a drone doing it? As an Amazon Prime member, I sometimes use Prime Now to get deliveries made in two hours from a limited selection of products, and that requires a minimum order and a delivery surcharge. It's still a great option th…

USP, FedEx and the USPS all leave your packages in unsecured areas. These drones would have to literally drop your packages off in a city. Those are very different actions.

The logistics of even getting close enough to the ground to not obliterate your package, in an open enough area, while avoiding people and other obstacles (both stationary and moving) is a nonstarter for even small cities imo. Good luck in NYC.

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

#65

Post by wehadfun »

hellogoodbyeeee wrote: post #45
wehadfun wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If you honestly think that only 2 UPS trucks were hijacked last year based on my post then there is no reason for me to reply to you.

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

#66

Post by beachstartup »

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…

many urban buildings have rooftop access. having a landing pad (could be nothing more than a rubber mat with a giant QR code on it) would be workable if the resident can confirm a delivery time to be on the roof. or they could leave the package there, if the building residents use it like a shared mail area.

having said all that this idea of drones flying around all over the place semiautonomously is crazy to me. maybe i'm getting old.

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

#67

Post by jerf »

mason240 wrote: post #41
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.

It's possible they'd have no choice: https://aviation.uslegal.com/ownership-of-airspace-over-prop...

Note I'm explicitly making a vague, handwavy argument in the direction of current laws about property owners and their ownership of the airspace over their property, as I am not anywhere near expert enough to opine on how that would precisely manifest in this case. I'm only opining that there exists already law that matters.

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

#69

Post by huehehue »

51Cards wrote: post #49
elahd wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 s…

When the regulators start regulating, I imagine they'll introduce serious penalties for shooting down an aircraft.

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

#70

Post by athenot »

sp00ls wrote: post #48
gamegoblin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

At 400ft, you can't really hear a modern car on modern pavement. But you certainly can hear a busy street.

One single drone may not produce a lot of noise but a whole group of them might be a different story.

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