Alphabet's 'Wing' Finally Launches America's First Drone Delivery Service, Beating Amazon (newsweek.com) 66
An anonymous reader quotes Newsweek:
Wing, an offshoot of Google parent company Alphabet, officially launched its drone delivery service Friday, delivering a FedEx package -- a birthday gift for Susie Sensmeier from her husband, Paul -- through the air from a distribution center to the couple's home in Christiansburg, Virginia, according to the company's blog.
the first company to receive Federal Aviation Authority approvalfocusing on drone delivery in dense, urban environments" according to TechCrunch, Wing decided to launch its pilot program in small-town Christiansburg. Snuggled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a population of 22,000, Christiansburg describes itself as a "tight-knit community." Without high-rises or other obstructions, Wing's drones can fly from their "Nest" in North Christiansburg, pick up parcels from local retailers, and deposit them at the doorsteps of qualifying homes.
Along with FedEx, Wing will also deliver packages from Walgreens and local boutique Sugar Magnolia.
"We are thrilled, honored, and humbled to be the first small business in the United States to have our products delivered by drone," said Sugar Magnolia's co-owner.
The article notes that the delivery drones "don't land at drop-off sites; instead, they hover 23 feet in the air and lower their cargo to the ground on a tether."
the first company to receive Federal Aviation Authority approvalfocusing on drone delivery in dense, urban environments" according to TechCrunch, Wing decided to launch its pilot program in small-town Christiansburg. Snuggled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a population of 22,000, Christiansburg describes itself as a "tight-knit community." Without high-rises or other obstructions, Wing's drones can fly from their "Nest" in North Christiansburg, pick up parcels from local retailers, and deposit them at the doorsteps of qualifying homes.
Along with FedEx, Wing will also deliver packages from Walgreens and local boutique Sugar Magnolia.
"We are thrilled, honored, and humbled to be the first small business in the United States to have our products delivered by drone," said Sugar Magnolia's co-owner.
The article notes that the delivery drones "don't land at drop-off sites; instead, they hover 23 feet in the air and lower their cargo to the ground on a tether."
Yawn (Score:5, Funny)
I for one really don't care anymore about our robot overlords
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I don't want drones near where I live. (Score:2)
Other drone problems:
1) Dogs will attack drones. From the Slashdot story: "... they hover 23 feet in the air and lower their cargo to the ground on a tether." Dogs will grab the tether.
2) Some people will shoot at drones.
3) Over houses, they will be noisy, scarily noisy, for the local neighborhood.
4) If there is a technology failure, someone in the neighborhood may die, or a house m
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Dogs will attack drones.
Then owners will be charged for the damage done to the drone by their dog.
Some people will shoot at drones.
Then those people will be caught by 360 degree cameras on drones and not only sued for damages by the owner, but also have charges brought against them by both the locality with jurisdiction, and the FAA.
Over houses, they will be noisy, scarily noisy, for the local neighborhood.
They will operate at ~300 feet where they will be quieter than a hummingbird flying by your window, until they make a delivery. They're really not that loud even when flying right past you, though.
If there is a technology failure, someone in the neighborhood may die, or a house may be burned down, as the parent comment mentioned.
Finally a real problem related to a d
Drones can be DANGEROUS! (Score:2)
Answer above: Then those people will be caught by 360 degree cameras on drones...
My reply: A teenager shooting a BB gun between branches of a tree? Also, 360 degrees is only a circle. Will drone cameras capture everything in every direction, even at night or on rainy or cloudy days?
My statement: "Remote control over drones can ALWAYS be eliminated or hijacked..."
Answer above: Drones will operate on cellular networks.
My reply: A few seconds of i
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A teenager shooting a BB gun between branches of a tree?
He's not going to hit the drone if it's at altitude. And if by some miracle he does, they'll know where it went down. If he shoots it down when it's near the ground, they'll know even better.
A few seconds of interference can cause a LOT of problems.
Not really. They'll put enough sensors on them to avoid crashing into anything, and they can use the inertial sensors to backtrack if necessary, or possibly even to continue the journey. They're not going to be piloting the drone at all unless there is a problem.
The interference can be EASILY localized.
No it cannot. Directional antennas which are genuinely dir
Welding creates local interference. (Score:2)
You said, "No it cannot."
To create local interference, someone can start doing welding. That affects all frequencies.
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The same sort of fear-mongering could be said about a delivery truck running through your wall [hometownstations.com] with its tank exploding [wapt.com].
Are the drones going to be more of a risk than road vehicles? I doubt it...
Re: Yawn (Score:1)
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a) they don't — the links I gave show vehicles crashing into houses and ending up in living rooms [metro.co.uk]; b) roofs and ceilings protect you from the drones — which are much lighter and less likely to crash through them, than a truck is through wall.
So, no, I remain unconvinced, that a hundreds of drones are more dangerous than dozens of trucks and vans. To boot they don't contribute to (vehicular) traffic and are ch
Begun, (Score:4, Funny)
the drone wars have.
Let's see who'll be the first casualty.
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I reckon, charging kids who shoot at those drones with sling shots to be entrapment, simply irresistible. As for baseballs, and footballs, and hockey sticks and anything else the little bundles of trouble can get their hands on. Worse will be the adults with guns, really is inviting trouble.
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Clearly, you’ve never flown a drone. At 400’, no one even knows it’s up there. I’ve owned a DJI for almost 2 years now, and nobody has tried to shoot it down.
Unless your kid has super mutant powers, he’s not throwing a ball 400’ straight up in the air.
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Don't violate my privacy, go fly your fucking drone somewhere where I don't live.
You anti-drone people are hilarious. From 400’, everything looks like Google Earth, so why don’t you take tour misplaced rage up against the satellites in space? Maybe Elon Musk will let you borrow a rocket.
If I had any interest in surreptitiously recording random strangers, I’d just pretend to be using my smartphone while recording in 4K. Spoiler alert: there are presently 7.53 billion people on Earth, and you’re just not that interesting.
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Can't help but notice that the anti-drone tough guys are al ACs.
Re: Begun, (Score:1)
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Some of us have radar and jamming devices. Fly over my house if you're feeling lucky.
Sorry Trump, nice try. Good luck with the impeachment thing.
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Oh come on moderators, that was funny. How many people besides the president actually have drone monitoring and countermeasures installed at their home?
Never go full retard! (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously... I feel like a stupid meme has gone way too far and nobody knows how to get out of it anymore.
The point of a delivery service is, that it is cheaper if you can share vehicles for most of the way. Drones don't do that. On top, flying is always vastly more inefficient. And stealing from a drone or disturbing it, is much easier than with a truck that has a driver.
Drone delivery ONLY and *exclusively* is a thing because "Ooohh! Drones!".
So because of a novelty "cool" factor. That has long passed, by the way.
WTF is happening to this world? This is full-on Idiocracy territory! I fully expect Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho to become the next Republican front runner, and in the next TV debate, pointing at Warren or whoever, going "First, fellow citizens, ... Just look at her!"!
Re:Never go full retard! (Score:5, Interesting)
That's only true if you're comparing one truck + driver against having a separate truck + driver for each package. Drivers in particular are quite expensive, since you have to pay a salary and benefits.
Drones are cheap. Cheap to build, and very, very cheap to operate. You can have an entire fleet of drones for the price of one truck + driver. And since you have several of them, it becomes possible to provide even quicker delivery guarantees than what Fedex & UPS offer.
Yes, these first several attempts at drone delivery aren't going to realize all of these dreams. But they need to start somewhere, and then improve upon things with time & experience.
No they aren't cheap. (Score:3)
A drone that can actually lift a real-world package will not be your aversge vlogger's drone. It will be large.
And in a place where people live, every job that can be done with a drone, can be done with a driving or swimming vehicle for cheaper, for obvious physics reasons.
Plus, every two deliveries that can share one vehicle, will also be cheaper as the common surface area is smaller, and there is no need for individual brain boxes or separating manufacturing materials into lots of tiny bits.
Sorry, deliver
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Problem with wheeled vehicles is that they can't solve the last metre problem. They can get to the road outside your house but can't get the package onto your property. They have to have a human for that.
Drones in theory solve that.
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A drone that can actually lift a real-world package will not be your aversge vlogger's drone. It will be large.
I built a quad for $150 that can carry over 250g. Many real-world packages weigh less than that. And that's just literally a quad made out of the cheapest components on eBay.
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Very large packages won't be delivered by drones. But average-weight packages are easily carried by some of today's drones. More importantly, the technology will continue to advance. But in order for advancement to happen, you need to start using them.
Re:Never go full retard! (Score:5, Interesting)
- Super fast (1 hour) premium delivery available if you're within flying range of a warehouse. For certain people and certain items it might be worth the extra cost, and in this case a drone will be cheaper than sending out a truck.
- Drones handling the last mile delivery from a truck.
That's gonna save me... what? (Score:2)
An hour?
Where I'm not at home anyway?
I think I can wait an hour. Especially at what it will probably cost.
The only case where that would make sense, would be organ transplants. As it would be cheaper than the helicopters we already use for those cases.
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An hour?
Not an hour. Five minutes or less.
Where I'm not at home anyway?
I think this sort of service makes the most sense to use when you are home.
I think I can wait an hour. Especially at what it will probably cost.
You're looking at this the wrong way. It's not a replacement for UPS[*], it's a faster and cheaper alternative to getting in the car and driving to the store when you only need one or two small items.
Ever been making dinner and discovered you're out of some ingredient? Ever been been doing some house repairs and realized you need a box of screws or some brackets or something? Ever had to run to
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The point of a delivery service is, that it is cheaper if you can share vehicles for most of the way.
The point of a delivery service is, someone will pay for goods to be delivered, and the consumer doesn't have to arrange the details of the delivery. Period, full stop. There are many types of deliveries which are not bundled. We currently commonly use human couriers to deliver single packages. They carry legal documents, or organs for transplant, and generally only one at a time.
flying is always vastly more inefficient.
The point of a drone delivery service is that a human doesn't have to be involved with the delivery. If that makes the total trip
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I fully expect Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho to become the next Republican front runner, and in the next TV debate, pointing at Warren or whoever, going "First, fellow citizens, ... Just look at her!"!
Um ... what? The whizz bang tech CEOs going all in on drone delivery aren't Republicans.
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This won't end well (Score:2)
Homeowner: Whazzat?
Neighbor: Dunno, it's flying around, I think it is spying on us!
Homeowner: I'll fix its ass (gets gun)....BLAM!
Neighbor: Ha, you only winged it, I can do better (gets gun) Chugga, chugga, ....., chugga. There!
Homeowner: You cheated with that machine gun.
Neighbor: Okay, here comes another one. See if you can hit with that peashooter you have.
Homeowner: Tell you what, I'll hit it, you fill that package its carrying with holes.
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I'm in Europe and the problem of shooting down drones would never cross my mind.
Is seems that the advancement of technology may suffer in a country where firearms are prevalent.
It makes a great case for banning firearms. I know this will never happen so either drone-shooting won't be a problem or drone delivery will, you know, never take off.
So much negativity (Score:1)
There’s a Sonny’s (it’s a BBQ joint that’s popular in Florida) within flight range of my DJI drone. It had me thinking about how awesome it would be if restaurants offered all-you-can-eat specials via drone delivery. Want more grub? Just send the drone back for more! Make America Fat Again, baby!
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Make America Fat Again, baby!
Lose some weight first, lardass.
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I think we found "Florida Man" we keep hearing about on the news.
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The FAA wasn't too happy with the Minnesota drone delivery.
https://techcrunch.com/2014/02... [techcrunch.com]
Ice fishermen on Lake Waconia in Minnesota were pleasantly surprised when a Wisconsin brewery, Lakemaid, flew a twelve-pack of their frothy suds over the icy wastes to their warm fishing cabins using a hefty, remote-controlled quadcopter. It was a match made in zero-degree weather: the brewery took orders and flew their drones out to the fishermen who, in turn, didn’t have to trudge to the shore for liquid refr
Boutique burgz (Score:2)
Along with FedEx, Wing will also deliver packages from Walgreens and local boutique Sugar Magnolia.
Imma guess this is nowhere near me. Too bad, I would buy something just for the novel delivery.
Wake me up when I can get Big Macs.
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Great for Alphabet (Score:2)
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure "approvalfocusing" isn't a real word.
"Small business" my butt (Score:2)
"We are thrilled, honored, and humbled to be the first small business in the United States to have our products delivered by drone," said Sugar Magnolia's co-owner.
Wing is Google. It's not a small business, anymore than Bugatti is a small business that isn't part of Volkswagen.
Being fucking Google, it'll be met with a 12-gauge if it ever flies over my house.
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Hmm yes, you're right. I misread.
Still, Google drone, 12-gauge. That stands no matter what.
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Well, it'll probably be so high up you won't notice it and zip past before you'll have a chance to spit out the straw, drop your banjo and get your weapon.
Not to mention, that's it's a federal crime to shoot a drone.
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Yet another Google project to crash and burn! ....
What, too soon?
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"We are thrilled, honored, and humbled to be the first small business in the United States to have our products delivered by drone," said Sugar Magnolia's co-owner.
After years of successful drone delivery operations in Rwanda [youtube.com], "humbled" might be a better word than "thrilled" or "honored".
Noise pollution (Score:2)
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I saw a magic pro 2 recently. I couldn’t hear it unless it was within about 10m away.
These are much larger (Score:2)
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Drones are not quiet, in suburbia where FedEx/UPS deliver packages to a street,
Drones are quieter than a step van, unless it's electric. Even then they're still quieter than slamming the back door.
Sure, but it's the frequency (Score:2)
DO NOT WANT (Score:2)
The never-ending noise in our otherwise peaceful communities. The crashes into the trees/property. The disturbance of the fauna. The eventual personal injury of SOMEone.
neighborhood dogs will love packages dangling on a (Score:1)
Sugar Magnolia (Score:2)
blossoms blooming.
Head's all empty and I don't--oops. Sorry. What now?