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Watch Out, Amazon: DHL Tests Drug-Delivery Drone
Nerval's Lobster writes "Amazon is apparently not alone in its desire to use miniature drones to deliver packages. On the morning of Monday, Dec. 9, employees at the Bonn, Germany headquarters of package-delivery giant DHL challenged Amazon's plan for dominance of the skies by having medicine delivered from a local pharmacy via a mustard-yellow package-carrying helicopter the Germans dubbed 'Paketkopter.' The quad-rotored mini-drone flew a box of medicines from a launching point near the pharmacy, above traffic and across the Rhine River to DHL's headquarters just over a kilometer away. It made the flight in about two minutes, was unloaded quickly and returned to the launch team near the pharmacy. Amazon has owned total mindshare of the still-imaginary drone-based package delivery market since CEO Jeff Bezos gushed about his plans for Amazon PrimeAir during a TV interview last week. The plan generated immediate controversy due to the negative image of drones following heavy use for surveillance and targeted anti-personnel strikes by the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq. Within the United States, the FAA, FTC and a host of consumer-protection groups objected to the possibility that thousands of autonomous drones would be hovering over U.S. cities, potentially invading the privacy and endangering the lives of those who might run afoul of either cameras or rotors."
I have a drone that I am marketing, it specializes in robbing delivery drones.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I can see this having very niche applications for very, very, fast-expiring medical goods (like live organs or components of the Technetium99 supply chain), where vehicles with a vulnerability to traffic might not be fast enough; but aren't the vast majority of drugs either taken predictably (multi-month supplies of this or that, trivial to just mail) or pulled from on-site inventory at hospitals and pharmacies?
Though Amazon may benefit from its own fleet, the first users of this method ought to be postal carriers — such as, indeed, the DHL.
While the unionized UPS and USPS may have to contend with the "replacing people with robots" nonsense first, freer companies like FedEx may complement (if not outright replace) their local delivery trucks with drones some day (hopefully — soon). Instead of "On truck for delivery" the parcel-tracking page would say "In flight to destination, ETA 3 minutes" or some such.
I'll be happy to install a homing mat in my backyard... It will reduce traffic and pollution, quicken the delivery, and reduce theft of the items left on the easily-accessed porches (rather than the harder to access backyards).
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Forget drone-fights. The weather will keep these guys grounded. Fifteen mph winds with gusts.
How many people are killed, and how much property destroyed, every year by delivery trucks? I will happily trade a few dozen dead Fifi's to take several thousand delivery trucks off the road. Luddites never learn.
There are completely valid reasons to fear and distrust the mass use of drones by governments, and their power to suppress speech and curtail freedom. But this particular use of technology is exactly the kind of progress that saves time, money, lives, and the environment. Last-mile delivery by drone faces many hurdles, both legislative and technical, but it's a very smart goal to work towards that benefits everyone.
I tried to find some statistics, and the best I could come up with were these two links on an 'Truck Accident Attorney' website; I don't know how accurate they are. But delivery vehicles for FedEx and UPS killed 50 people in about two years, with another ~2000 non-fatal accidents. I will guarantee that the drones will have better statistics than that.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
It turns out shooting at someone's drone with a shotgun is about as illegal, and for the same reasons, as whacking her car with a baseball bat.
People will do it, and other people will catch them and throw them in jail, and life will go on.
I thought that "drug delivery" had a very specific meaning. Does this mean that the drone is an oversized, high-tech wasp that will stick a giant needle into your ass?
Ezekiel 23:20
If a cargo plane crashes on your property, does its cargo become your property? No? Then why would you think a drone's payload might?
According to the Guardian article you linked, and that I have up there, it was a publicity stunt. You went to an awful lot of trouble to form such a long impassioned rebuttal over such a simple thing that I find it almost disturbing. Amazon is speeding up their service by building micro-warehouses all over the nation in an attempt to facilitate overnight service to all. This we know is a fact. But if you really believe their is a chance that drones are going to be dropping packages off at you doorstep in under 10 - 15 years, you neither understand the logistics and you are both delusional and naive. Set down the Adderal and the Code Red. Maybe light some incense and listen to some Tibetan singing bowls or something.
from the article
This most likely had more to do with the announcement. I can't believe you got modded up...
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
If a ship sinks on my property, then what?
The cargo belongs to Spain.
According to the Guardian article you linked, and that I have up there, it was a publicity stunt.
False. According to that article, it is probably a publicity stunt, and some people have said that they think so, but there is no actual proof. They in fact do not unequivocally state that it is such in the article (though quoted sources say that they are sure that it is such) which I presume is why you didn't copy and paste anything where that actually happens, instead choosing to employ prevarication by calling attention to Amazon's odious business practices. I agree that they are odious, but that does not reflect upon the validity of the drone delivery model, nor Amazon's intent (or lack thereof) to employ it.
I think you're likely correct, but the linked article does not prove that you are, and it is therefore bullshit to continue pounding on it as if it contained the facts you're looking for. It doesn't. It contains speculation.
But if you really believe their is a chance that drones are going to be dropping packages off at you doorstep in under 10 - 15 years, you neither understand the logistics and you are both delusional and naive.
I'm pretty sure I do understand the logistics. Quadcopters are already capable of doing this job right now, the infrastructure needed is simply not there. The infrastructure required is broad in extent, but a straightforward and simple extension of existing systems already in place at Amazon, such as robots now performing picking jobs in some of their distribution centers.
Set down the Adderal and the Code Red.
Congratulations, you're an asshole! Your prize is getting to live with yourself!
I can't believe you got modded up...
I still just can't believe it's not butter.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"