Alphabet Partners With Chipotle To Deliver Burritos Using Drones (theverge.com) 105
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Google parent company Alphabet is teaming up with fast casual chain Chipotle to test drone delivery for Virginia Tech students, according to a report from Bloomberg. The pilot program marks a turning point for Alphabet's Project Wing division, giving the team ample room to experiment with airborne burrito deliveries in one of the first commercial programs of its kind to be green-lit by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority. The drones, which will be hybrid aircraft that can both fly and hover in place, will make deliveries coordinated by a Chipotle food truck on campus. Project Wing drones will be guided predominantly by software, but human pilots will be on hand to assume control if necessary. The aircraft are also prohibited from flying directly over human beings. So active participants will be shielded appropriately, according to Alphabet. Project Wing chose to partner with Chipotle because it presented unique challenges: could a drone adequately deliver food using a winch system, and can the food remain hot throughout flight with special packaging? The program will be accessible to select Virginia Tech employees and students.
Challenge (Score:5, Funny)
Knock down the drone, win a burrito.
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Or just capture the drone, and free drone AND burrito!
Re:Challenge (Score:5, Insightful)
its been a long time since i have been in college... i just know back in the day... this would be a drone/burrito losing strategy.
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Knock down the drone, win a burrito.
Actually I was thinking surely some kind of cannon would be the best way to deliver burritos... Perhaps methane powered.
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I'm sorry... (Score:5, Funny)
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Apparently you haven't tried one with their hottest sauce....
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The have barred the drone from flying over people, so how does it actually deliver the burrito, fire it at them? Ahh, the pleasant time of lunch in the park at a univerity, the time to sit a relax, eat and listening to some tunes, ohh no, fuck that, listen instead to the sound of a thousand drones trying to deliver junk food at the same time. The insurance companies will love that university.
Re:I'm sorry... (Score:5, Funny)
at that point the whole thing will be scrapped...
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Because after Google perfects this system...
This is a lot easier to say than do. Just like time travel...
VaT is in the mountains (Score:2)
Ugh (Score:1)
Not even my burritos are safe from the almighty GOOG. Time to switch to Qdoba.
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If they'd deliver Qdoba Queso, I would sign up in a minute.
Great concept (Score:1)
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Do you know what those bastards did last time I was in? They gave me a burrito...for free.
That shit could have anthrax sprinkled on it, and I'd probably still nom on it.
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BioDrone Attack (Score:4, Funny)
Food poisoning delivered by drones. I'll have mine with extra ptomaine, please.
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Food poisoning delivered by drones. I'll have mine with extra ptomaine, please.
I believe it's attacks by gas you should be more fearful of.
After all, this is a burrito delivery service.
Publicity Stunt (Score:3)
And what will they do when every single drone is destroyed or stolen? Quietly pretend the service never existed.
Re:Publicity Stunt (Score:5, Insightful)
And what will they do when every single drone is destroyed or stolen? Quietly pretend the service never existed.
The same thing Domino's does when their pizza deliverymen are destroyed or stolen -- call the police and have the perpetrators arrested.
Except this time they'll have video records and GPS tracking data to make it easier to find the perpetrators.
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The same thing Domino's does when their pizza deliverymen are destroyed or stolen
I'm pretty sure the murder rate for pizza delivery people will be much lower than for drone vandalism. I'm also sure the cop care factor for theft of a $5 item of food is going to be zero.
This has fail written all over it and you know it.
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The same thing Domino's does when their pizza deliverymen are destroyed or stolen
I'm pretty sure the murder rate for pizza delivery people will be much lower than for drone vandalism. I'm also sure the cop care factor for theft of a $5 item of food is going to be zero. This has fail written all over it and you know it.
Charge a $500 deposit for those who wish to sign up for this "new-and-cool" delivery service. Financial protection models like this have existed for years to secure semi-valuable objects.
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Charge a $500 deposit for those who wish to sign up for this "new-and-cool" delivery service. Financial protection models like this have existed for years to secure semi-valuable objects.
I've never hear of anyone signing away a $500 bond to maybe get a burrito delivered. It would also just make them more of a target since instead of just taking one out for kicks, you now also know you're going to make some nerd $500 poorer too.
Fall of modern society (Score:1)
Everyone talks about Western decadence mirroring ancient rome's path to downfall. I think the real indicator is going to be some function of how many inane tasks we can shoehorn into a drone deliver service.
Re:Fall of modern society (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone talks about Western decadence mirroring ancient rome's path to downfall.
Roman decadence peaked in the 1st century AD, but the downfall didn't happen till nearly 400 years later. By then they were nearly all Christians, who, at least in principle, opposed decadence.
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Roman decadence peaked in the 1st century AD, but the downfall didn't happen till nearly 400 years later.
The decadence of the people or the decadence of the leadership? The leadership can do more damage.
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The decadence of the people or the decadence of the leadership?
Neither. Decadence did NOT cause the collapse of Rome. That is just propaganda from prudes who don't think we should be enjoying life. When Rome was decadent, they were at their peak of power and prosperity. It was considered a "Golden Age".
There are far more plausible reasons why Rome collapsed:
1. Civil war
2. Lead poisoning
3. Plague
4. The Germans
5. The Huns
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My question was really about whether the l
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It was the vandals. They spent so much money on sandblasting graffiti the whole thing collapsed.
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>By then they were nearly all Christians, who, at least in principle, opposed decadence.
By then the culture was habituated by centuries of 'going through the motions' of religion & being made to 'choose a religious allegiance' to comply with the law- while still being influenced by previous nature/sex/fertility cultures. FTFY
At that time in Rome being religious was just a part of being a good citizen, and being decadent was part of being a good human. Remember the Romans were still the product of p
By air? (Score:1)
When you just can't WAIT for the E. Coli to arrive!
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Trump will build a wall around every taco
In other news (Score:1)
It is now a certified conclusion that Alphabet exec's are definitely on drugs.
On the other hand, this sort of reality distortion field worked for Apple, so maybe trying something interesting in a controlled environment will net something useful..
So maybe not.
At least V tech students will have a source of fuel for hard nights of party ^H^H^H^H^H studies.
Delivering burritos to drunk college students seems a good challenge for developing the technology.
First hurdle: what keeps the customers digits attached aft
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No, they are quite sane when viewed from the right perspective. Over 85% of Google's revenue comes from ads, but more and more people are using ad-blockers. This is a threat to their existence. So the purpose of Alphabet is to find something, anything, to fill in when ad revenue declines. Some of their projects are pretty conservative, like high speed broadband, wireless, and cloud services. Other companies already make billions a year on them. Others are riskier, but you never know when one could tur
Biological Terrorism or Drone Warfare? (Score:2)
Seriously though, nice gimmich, but the liability concerns will never be overcome on these drone delivery stories. No sure it'll ever be profitable either.
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I for One welcome our New Burrito Bearing Overloads.
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the liability concerns will never be overcome on these drone delivery stories.
Why would the liability insurance on a 4 kg drone be more than that on a 2 ton delivery van driven by a teenager?
DMCA (Score:1, Offtopic)
Onion.com called, they want their headline back.
Alphabet, Burritos, Chipotle, Drones (Score:5, Funny)
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...E-coli, Food poisoning?
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You forgot Email and Fiber
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Anything that starts with a letter.
Numbers are right out though.
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The bubble is about to burst (Score:2)
This is a test. They are failing.
This is an indicator, the bubble is about to burst. Just like it did at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency.
Fuck... (Score:2)
(farnsworth)I don't want to live on this planet anymore(/farnsworth)
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Okay, so I can get a burrito via drone (Score:2)
The bigger question is - can I also get one of those overpriced margaritas?
Forget drones (Score:2)
they could just use a cannon.
Up there! (Score:3)
In the Sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
No, it's E. Coli!
No one learns, just play time... (Score:3)
Didn't anyone learn from existing industry:
Who wants a cold burrito?
In Rain?
And Oily?
And it's Chipotle, which still hasn't solved its bacteria problem [iwaspoisoned.com].
Just a marketing stunt....which college kids love...
Pollution (Score:2)
If I see one of these annoying things polluting my neighbourhood I will do my best to destroy it. Good luck getting your Burrito.
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No, Internet Tough Guy, you won't.
...And that's how... (Score:1)
Flying Burrito Brothers! (Score:1)
Science Angle (Score:2)
I am so proud (Score:2)
(perhaps the sarcasm was a little thick. The chip in my skull must be getting some crosstalk from North Korean propaganda - they've got that turned to full blast [slashdot.org] today.)
Are we in the dark ages? (Score:2)
Why can't they make burrito appear in my mouth pre-chewed? Seriously...
I'm just amazed a drone has enough (Score:2)
Burrito at 12 o'clock high! (Score:1)
Take cover! INCOMING!
Seriously, dropped from height, that's a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Platform (Score:1)
Alphabet Partners With Chipotle To Deliver Burritos Using Drones ... as a new bio-weapon delivery system?
It's raining tacos, la la laaa ... (Score:2)
Big Drone (Score:1)
Would the drone pilot.... (Score:2)
...be called CmdrTaco?
College Hackers Will Love This (Score:2)
Ooh, the company that is promoting the racist (or is it just ignorant?) pronunciation of Chipotle is making itself a target for campus hackers. This should be really interesting :-).