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Transportation Businesses United States

7-Eleven Just Used a Drone To Deliver Slurpees and a Chicken Sandwich (roboticstrends.com) 117

An anonymous Slashdot reader write: A drone has autonomously delivered Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, doughnuts, hot coffee and candy from a Reno, Nevada 7-Eleven to a nearby home. The delivery was made "in a matter of minutes" to two busy working parents near their store in Reno, Nevada, and the drone hovered in place and gently lowered each package to the ground in the family's backyard.

"To find customers willing to have their order handled by a flying robot, the companies surveyed households within a one-mile radius of the store from which they planned to deliver," reports Tech Crunch. 7-Eleven partnered with drone-delivery company Flirtey, which has also used its drones to perform a ship-to-shore delivery of medical supplies . They're calling this flight the first FAA-approved drone delivery to a home and a historic milestone in commercial deliveries, and both companies plan to continue working together in the future to perform more testing on drone deliveries.

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7-Eleven Just Used a Drone To Deliver Slurpees and a Chicken Sandwich

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  • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @12:39PM (#52571073)

    I guess they had to find some way of cutting costs now that they can no longer underpay staff and take advantage of desperate foreign workers. [businessinsider.com.au]

  • by future assassin ( 639396 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @01:01PM (#52571163)
    • 7-11 in the US and 7-11 in Canada are pretty different.

      Here in Canada the stores are owned by 7-11 Canada. This helps with things like pensions, medical/dental/drug benefits. (Source: my wife works at the 7-11 across from my house).

      In the US, all stores are independently owned.

      And, to be honest, that story is more about Esso being a bunch of pricks and selling off their retail/convenience stores, not that 7-11 Canada purchased them.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    with this article, preceded slightly by the one headlined "Laser-Armed Martian Robot Now Vaporizing Targets of Its Own Free Will"

    • by aevan ( 903814 )
      Tip the drone, or else?
    • with this article, preceded slightly by the one headlined "Laser-Armed Martian Robot Now Vaporizing Targets of Its Own Free Will"

      What? That's practically the most accurate headline I've ever seen!

  • by zamboni1138 ( 308944 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @01:19PM (#52571239)

    The downside is that you have to be willing to consume food from 7-11, which is maybe one notch above bowling alley food.

    • in the rest of the world convenience stores have regular food. Given the large network of the things you might see better food options as they get more into delivery. Kinda like what Radio Shack tried to do but actually workable since food is perishable.
  • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @01:23PM (#52571257) Journal
    If drone delivery becomes common, is there going to be a problem with drones falling from the sky and hitting people on the head? I don't know the answer to that.
    • by sims 2 ( 994794 )

      We already have a problem with actual planes falling out of the sky and hitting people on the head.

      Although I havent heard anyone complaining about that.

      Must not be the current trendy thing for the media to talk about.

      • We already have a problem with actual planes falling out of the sky and hitting people on the head.

        When was the last time that happened?

        • by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

          Donnie Darko was a documentary.

        • by sims 2 ( 994794 )

          Most recent ground strike I could find was near the end of last year. http://america.aljazeera.com/a... [aljazeera.com]

          Hitting homes is however much more common such as yesterday. http://pix11.com/2016/07/23/1-... [pix11.com]

          Its a small problem but a problem none the less.

        • by MercTech ( 46455 )

          There was another "blue meteor" incident a couple of months ago. From what I can see is that the problem with things hitting people on the head only really occurs with frequency on the flight path coming into aircraft repair facilities.

          BTW... blue meteor... when the external holding tank valve has a slow leak and the blue toilet water freezes on the outside of the aircraft. It thaws and drops off when descending for a landing in warmer ground air.

          A rare but documented problem.
          https://en.w

    • Let's ask Chicken Little

    • If drone delivery becomes common, is there going to be a problem with drones falling from the sky and hitting people on the head?

      Have you been worrying yourself about ground-based delivery and shipping vehicles striking and killing people? No? Why not? Road-related injuries and deaths happen all the time, and some of them involve commercial delivery vehicles.

      In the meantime, millions of people fly remotely operated small aircraft, with untold millions of hours in the air and more or less statistically non-existent rate of people on the ground getting hurt. And that hasn't even really involved more expense, professionally operated

      • In the meantime, millions of people fly remotely operated small aircraft, with untold millions of hours in the air and more or less statistically non-existent rate of people on the ground getting hurt.

        That's because they don't fly through populated areas.

        • That's because they don't fly through populated areas.

          What? People operate these machines in suburban and busy areas all the time. Millions of them. Most operators are very casual and have very little skill, while using easy-to-fail devices with little or no redundancy or ability to tolerate even mild LiPo failure. And despite all of that, all of the mayhem that the hand-wringing nanny-staters keep talking about... doesn't happen.

          • by Rolgar ( 556636 )

            But 99% (my estimate) of flying happens outside of occupied locations. Few people are flying from one side of a metro area to the other. If you fly from NYC to Buffalo, most of your air time is over unpopulated farmland in upstate New York. If you eliminate most of the flight time that happens outside of metro areas, the number of accidents per mile are probably not so insignificant as the statistics indicate.

      • by Holi ( 250190 )
        Statistics for something that doesn't have to be reported? That's a shaky argument. You have no idea how many drone injuries there are as that information probably isn't recorded anywhere.
    • by MercTech ( 46455 )

      Check the FAA rules on drones.

      "Hobby" drones don't require a license. A hobby drone cannot be operated over another person's property, must stay in line of sight, are forbidden from coming near airports (without permission) or areas where people congregate (festivals, sporting events, etc.). A hobby drone is severely limited as to payload capacity,
      These are the type of drones that often cause problems with improper operation. Remember when SoCal had to abort firefighting a

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Because that's apparently going to be viable soon, yay.

    • Currently you can carjack delivery vans in front of your house if you just want "free shit" and have no moral virtues. What's holding you back?

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Carjacking is a risky crime that requires making physical threats to actual people face to face and in some cases encountering serious resistance. Hardly the same level of criminality is required to shoot or otherwise damage a drone, forcing it to the ground.

        • Carjacking is a risky crime that requires making physical threats to actual people face to face

          Then wait till after they make their delivery, and just steal the stuff from your neighbor's front porch or mailbox. What's stopping you? There are plenty of human endeavors that rely on people being basically honest, and for the most part, they work. If your mail isn't stolen, they why would drone deliveries be stolen?

          • by Rolgar ( 556636 )

            The postal system was established by the Constitution and interfering with the delivery of the mail is a federal offense with penalties of up to 5 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines. UPS, FedEx, Amazon and other companies won't enjoy that level of protection.

  • by JustNiz ( 692889 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @01:31PM (#52571285)

    Does this mean 7-11 just made the first ever drone delivery of a commercial sale?
    If so Way To Go 7-11 !!!!
    I would have put money on Amazon being the first.

  • by tomhath ( 637240 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @01:41PM (#52571319)
    It will be interesting to see what happens when the drone tries to make a delivery at a house that has a dog. Most dogs I've had would just eat the chicken sandwich. But I've known a few that would have it out with the drone.
  • Ignorant Posters (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24, 2016 @02:04PM (#52571419)

    The article has been up for over 1.5 hours with 40 posts and no one has noticed that the first link isn't actually a link.

    How do I submit an application for a Slashdot editor position? I'd love to do nothing all day and get paid for it.

    • by cyn1c77 ( 928549 )

      The article has been up for over 1.5 hours with 40 posts and no one has noticed that the first link isn't actually a link.

      How do I submit an application for a Slashdot editor position? I'd love to do nothing all day and get paid for it.

      Dude.

      This is /.

      You're not supposed to read the articles. You're just supposed to post snarky comments about the OP's text!

    • The article has been up for over 1.5 hours with 40 posts and no one has noticed that the first link isn't actually a link.

      How do I submit an application for a Slashdot editor position? I'd love to do nothing all day and get paid for it.

      They've been hiring for a while and haven't been able to fill those positions. Click here for more information. [slashdot.org]

  • by GoodNewsJimDotCom ( 2244874 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @04:43PM (#52571935)
    A drone delivering 7-11 food must be considered a biowarfare war crime under the Geneva Convention.
  • This service does not exist as a commercial service that a customer can use. Total PR stunt by the local over-eager PR agency who seems to think that Reno is the next Silicon Valley (hilarious laughter).
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Amazon must be pissed!
  • Drone deliveries from 7-11? Ugh. That's a bit like learning you're finally going to lose your virginity, and then finding out it's going to be with Uncle Bob.

  • "Oh thank Heaven for 7-11!"

  • Does it still say, "Come again.."?

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