> developed by the logistics startup Pipedream Labs Great company name. (Other tunnel-related company with a clever name: The Boring Company.)
> Pipedream Labs
Unlike the WSJ piece, the company web site has as you'd expect, no paywall:
An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
81–90 of 196 posts
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#82If you're already trenching tunnels through suburban neighborhoods, seems like adding residential fiber would be a no brainer. Could make the whole thing a lot more sustainable.
Maybe, but it isn't clear as if you do this and one system breaks the other system also has to be taken down for repairs. Sure you can put fiber in these tubes, but if the tube needs to be replaced you have to cut/splice the fiber inside. Likewise if a tube collapses (more likely to break the fiber than if it was surrounded by dirt) you have to do something about that fiber to get it out. So long term it could be worse to do this.
Note that we are talking about small tunnels here. A large tunnel that a human could walk in allows more flexibility.
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#83When I worked in sewer inspection I heard a lot about the rate of degradation of in-ground infrastructure. One thing that was touted a lot was that the math doesn't work out at present; we can't replace infrastructure as fast as it degrades in net. I was curious if the 10 years since I've been NAASCO certified if things have changed or if non-water/sewer infrastructure was potentially different. Turns out, costs aver…
I'm curious if Atlanta has the same issues as you're familiar with. Under a thin layer of topsoil the ground is impermeable clay, and they don't have earthquakes. Known problems with the sewer systems go neglected without incident for decades.
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#84They cite pneumatic tubes as an inspiration. Why not straight up build pneumatic tubes of their own?
Maintaining pressurized grids is hard enough for the systems in use in hospitals, and any small failure in a pressurized pipe has the potential for a huge disaster.
Chemical plants, on the whole, seem to manage pressurized systems quite well.
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#85What a terrible idea. The pilot only has one pipe that goes between two locations. There’s no indication of how they would scale this to actually be useful for local delivery. And maintenance when the trolleys break down would be a nightmare. Just like the Boring Company tunnels, the folks who dream this stuff up don’t think about how it can scale beyond a demo. They just figure they’ll figure it out later, but real-…
But VC money to burn…..
They should add AI in there somewhere
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#86I always wondered why things like this weren't more prevalent, and the only answer I could come to was "jobs".
That is, given the networks of underground infrastructure that already exist, it seems like this would be totally plausible for pretty much any midsize+ city to build this out to replace all conventional mail delivery (that is, basically anything that can fit in a standard size mailbox). But that would result in tons of mailmen/women being made redundant.
Am I just misunderstanding the complexity of building out one of these systems? Long term it seems like it would be much cheaper than current last mile delivery. I also realize that there are tons of processes that are kept inefficient due to "jobs inertia", so I don't think this is something new. Whenever I have to wait in line at the neighborhood pharmacy to pick up a prescription, I always think "How is pharmacist still a job?" Everything seems like it could be made much more efficient if pill cases were standardized and you could just pick things up at something resembling a vending machine. I'm not saying I never have questions for a pharmacist or want them to review something, but like 50% at least of the stuff they do should be automatable.
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#87I wonder what's their plan when a vehicle gets stuck?
> Instead of using suction, which can be unreliable, Pipedream uses electricity to run a small battery-powered autonomous vehicle This.. has to be a joke? Surely they don't believe a "battery-powered autonomous vehicle" is more reliable than a pneumatic tube network?
Seems like it would be to me. So long as you monitor your battery charge you know the vehicle will get there and it can tolerate many imperfections in the tube. Pneumatics need a tight seal to the tube and thus cannot tolerate imperfections.
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#88I wonder what's their plan when a vehicle gets stuck?
I assume they are planning to have some kind of rescue vehicle. But the problem with this will be the traffic jam the stuck vehicle will cause. Not only will all the vehicles behind it need to stop as well, they also need to be rerouted in order to let the rescue vehicle pass. The main difference of pumping water or gas through pipes is that the consumer does not care which part of the pumped product he gets. It's al…
You could design all vehicles to be capable of some basic rescue functions.
I would bet the most common situation is the stuck vehicle is just stalled and could be pushed and/or pulled by the car behind or in front of it.
For pulling, you might use an automatic coupler like railways use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_coupling#Automatic_cou...
Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#89Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs
#90This isn't a new concept. NYC (among other cities) had networks of Pneumatic tubes to shuttle intra-city mail around. For NYC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube_mail_in_New_Yor... For Paris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_pneumatic_post It will be interesting if the economics work in suburban sprawl.
Hence, the article: > As the company’s name teases, the idea may seem futuristic, but it’s far from new. Let’s call it a cousin of the pipe-forward delivery solution favored in the 19th and early 20th century — the pneumatic tube. In cities like London and New York, networks of pipes that snaked underground and through buildings allowed people to send urgent packages, telegrams, checks, and at least one sick cat whoo…
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