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How E-commerce With Drone Delivery is Taking Flight in China (economist.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Late on a Monday morning the village of Zhangwei is quiet. Chickens scratch and cluck at the side of the road. Workers use wooden spades to spread grain on the highway to dry, using half its width so that traffic can still pass on the other side. Yet at the community centre at the village's heart, two objects hint at a feat of ultra-modern logistics about to unfold: a circle of green astroturf laid down in the central courtyard, and a billboard on the front of the building bearing the logo of JD.com, China's second-largest online retailer.
A low whirr breaks the stillness as a spiky dot appears on the horizon. The drone arrives overhead with a roar, hovers for a moment, then lowers itself towards the green circle like a mantis, three sets of propellers churning the air into whorls of straw and dust. Slung beneath it is a red cardboard box branded with JD's cheery dog mascot. Just a few feet above the ground, the drone drops the box then zips back up into the sky and disappears. The spectacle is over in 20 seconds.
It is a link in a new kind of logistics chain, the world's first operational drone-delivery programme. While Amazon, an American company, has put out numerous promotional videos on its drone-delivery plans, it will not start commercial operations until at least 2020. Meanwhile, JD.com has spent the past year building a real drone-delivery network covering 100 villages in rural China with 40 drones. Zhangwei currently receives a couple of drops each day, each box containing several packages ordered through JD's shopping app. Thanks to JD's drones, which operate autonomously with no human guidance but are monitored remotely, villagers in Zhangwei can expect delivery on the same day that they place an order, like urban shoppers in Beijing, New York or London.
A low whirr breaks the stillness as a spiky dot appears on the horizon. The drone arrives overhead with a roar, hovers for a moment, then lowers itself towards the green circle like a mantis, three sets of propellers churning the air into whorls of straw and dust. Slung beneath it is a red cardboard box branded with JD's cheery dog mascot. Just a few feet above the ground, the drone drops the box then zips back up into the sky and disappears. The spectacle is over in 20 seconds.
It is a link in a new kind of logistics chain, the world's first operational drone-delivery programme. While Amazon, an American company, has put out numerous promotional videos on its drone-delivery plans, it will not start commercial operations until at least 2020. Meanwhile, JD.com has spent the past year building a real drone-delivery network covering 100 villages in rural China with 40 drones. Zhangwei currently receives a couple of drops each day, each box containing several packages ordered through JD's shopping app. Thanks to JD's drones, which operate autonomously with no human guidance but are monitored remotely, villagers in Zhangwei can expect delivery on the same day that they place an order, like urban shoppers in Beijing, New York or London.
Next up?
Chinese Drone Economy Crashes
Cell phones reached places where landlines were hard to string because they were an easier form of infrastructure in places like mountains. For remote places with poor or non-existent roads, for delivering small loads, I can easily see drones being preferable to building the infrastructure.
But in the US only the cool kids get stuff like that. The tech industry would never trial anything in backwards rural America.
I'm interested to see how this technology develops but I do suspect it has certain limitations. For example, I just ordered a gallon of metricide, I somehow suspect your average delivery drone couldn't deliver that; it would have been too heavy. Only lighter weight deliveries I suspect are practical to deliver this way.
It would be interesting to see, just how much can be carried by drone; and if deliveries become more common by drone, does that mean delivery of heavy items becomes more expensive? If there are fewer packages going on a certain route price per package goes up. So if drones are delivering all the light-weight items, items which are above the drone's threshold will therefore be more expensive to deliver.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
but there is no drone that can carry 50 pounds of Cliff bars and a barrel of skinny vanilla latte at a time...
cease fire stand down.. fictional history of hysteria explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn3bD7n3bZQ .. motive,, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXqPjx94YMg .. thankks again
So when all vehicles are done with inspection how does that relate to drones. Hard time seeing stickers. I thought passing emissions was important. Now that it seemed to have been wiped off the face of the earth people get nostalgic for it again. So big Brian from Eagle River Wis should get taken away to labor on drones. Shame it isn't me. I could use a job like that. I said drones just like this article said drones. Sheriff Altman would be so proud of these posts. He made it to the cover of a gossip magazine two decades before he did the deed. Just when computers seemed to be in the lead some ship pulls in and tells us all the future. Dad what is MSFT at one decade from now. All knowing people run into questions like that. Spring Hill Florida. Next post contains the ip I am using. Hah. l0pht number too
Storms in the cloud cause several Chinese drone delivery firms to crash and burn, but will there be a soft landing for some?
The article makes it sound like this drone program is so amazing but ignores the fact that its only economical because China lacks the infrastructure in these villages for traditional to the door truck deliveries. Also the fact that China doesn't give a fuck about whether these drones kill people as long as those at the top of the party food chain keep making their money.
There are already several multi-copter drones designed to carry multiple people - it's just a question of what demand and flight regulations allow for.
At first it'll probably be relatively small expensive items rather than bulk ones, simply because the profit-per-pound potential is so much greater. Later, who knows? It may complement with other technologies beautifully - far more efficient automated semis driving down the main corridors of a city, acting as the "mothership" for a fleet of delivery drones servicing the surrounding area as it passes through? Or even a dirigible mothership for less developed areas - anything that doesn't have to constantly spend enormous amounts of power just to not fall out of the sky (and hey, a dirigible with thin-film solar cells in its skin? Might have potential...)
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
I tend to agree; while anything is possible in terms of scale, the economics implications are interesting. Living in remote locations of “developing” countries though, my experiences were always big shipments coming in on a week or so. Is this just more of a play on consumerism?
Even in 'developed' (or perhaps, 'formerly first world') countries like the US, bulk delivery is the norm - because it makes economic sense.
The area in a Venn Diagram which corresponds to 'small but relatively light' and 'expensive enough to warrant special treatment and 'needs to get there real soon now' is pretty small.
I can make a nice tech demonstration but as a business plan it seems rather lacking.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
And now starts the soon rapid demise of another set of jobs. Teenagers of the future aren't going to have a lot of opportunity to work.
I love the semi-carrier idea, I can see it it in my head. Stop what you're doing and get on that!
I just ordered a gallon of metricide
So that's why America doesn't use the metric system.
I just ordered a gallon of metricide
So that's why America doesn't use the metric system.
It took me a few seconds to get that, but that gave me a good chuckle. Thanks!
Metricide was developed as a sterilizing fluid- but nowadays it is actually used more by fish keepers than it is for sterilizing things. It turns out that plants use it as a carbon source when it's in the water column and in low doses it doesn't hurt fish or inverts. (it has the added benefit of killing algae though).
Rather than killing the metric system... I actually add it in mL - I add 15mL of it to my main planted aquarium each morning just before the lights come on. Seachem sell a version of Metricide called Florin Excel- only they jack up the price about 10 times the rate.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch