More Drone Deliveries Being Tested in America (roanoke.com) 21
Long-time Slashdot reader necro81 writes: For several years, Zipline has deployed autonomous, fixed-wing airplane drones for medical supply deliveries in Rwanda. Now they have received permission to test their aircraft in the U.S., ferrying COVID-19 supplies from a depot to a hospital in North Carolina. The practical benefit is small: the cargo is modest amounts of PPE that could have been delivered by truck in about 20 minutes. But this is a big deal, because it required a waiver from the FAA for the planes to operate fully autonomously and beyond visual line-of-sight — just launch and forget. It is happening in proximity to an airport no less.
The article notes it's America's "first drone delivery operation to be approved to fly in airspace where all air traffic is actively managed by the FAA."
But meanwhile, another headline this week at the Washington Post tells us that Google-backed drones "will drop library books so kids in Virginia can do their summer reading." Wing, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet, started delivering household goods and meals [and prescriptions] from Walgreens and local restaurants to a limited area of the southwest Virginia town that covers several thousand homes last October. The company has seen a jump in demand during the pandemic as people are increasingly staying home and avoiding crowded spaces like grocery stores, said Keith Heyde, head of Virginia operations for Wing. The company reached a high of 1,000 deliveries globally in a single week this spring, he said.
And they're not the only companies experimenting with drone deliveries, according to Forbes: UPS and CVS have also paired up with a focus on medical products. The two companies are partnering to use drones to deliver prescriptions to residents of The Villages in Florida, one of the country's biggest retirement communities. The deliveries come from a CVS store about a half mile away and mark the first paid residential deliveries by UPS's drone unit Flight Forward. The drones drop the prescriptions to a central location, where a Flight Forward employee will ferry them by golf cart to homes.
Chennai, India, and Surabaya, Indonesia have tried using drones to spray disinfectant in crowded cities. But Forbes reports that around the world, "the biggest use case has been the deployment of drones to enforce social distancing and monitor crowds."
Although at least one Paris prefect complains that there's still one problem with the drones. "Sometimes they are attacked by birds, which mistake them for rivals."
The article notes it's America's "first drone delivery operation to be approved to fly in airspace where all air traffic is actively managed by the FAA."
But meanwhile, another headline this week at the Washington Post tells us that Google-backed drones "will drop library books so kids in Virginia can do their summer reading." Wing, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet, started delivering household goods and meals [and prescriptions] from Walgreens and local restaurants to a limited area of the southwest Virginia town that covers several thousand homes last October. The company has seen a jump in demand during the pandemic as people are increasingly staying home and avoiding crowded spaces like grocery stores, said Keith Heyde, head of Virginia operations for Wing. The company reached a high of 1,000 deliveries globally in a single week this spring, he said.
And they're not the only companies experimenting with drone deliveries, according to Forbes: UPS and CVS have also paired up with a focus on medical products. The two companies are partnering to use drones to deliver prescriptions to residents of The Villages in Florida, one of the country's biggest retirement communities. The deliveries come from a CVS store about a half mile away and mark the first paid residential deliveries by UPS's drone unit Flight Forward. The drones drop the prescriptions to a central location, where a Flight Forward employee will ferry them by golf cart to homes.
Chennai, India, and Surabaya, Indonesia have tried using drones to spray disinfectant in crowded cities. But Forbes reports that around the world, "the biggest use case has been the deployment of drones to enforce social distancing and monitor crowds."
Although at least one Paris prefect complains that there's still one problem with the drones. "Sometimes they are attacked by birds, which mistake them for rivals."
You wants the short but memorable relations. (Score:1)
What Could Possibly Go Wrong (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I work in the drone industry and the feds are testing out a proximity reporting program for commercial drones. Think autonomous air traffic control.
Well, yes, the're machines (Score:2)
"Sometimes they are attacked by birds, which mistake them for rivals."
I'm sure all the non-machines here understand this easily.
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The birds will solve the drone problem, but what will solve the bird problem?
Re: (Score:2)
Probably just needs some conceptual upleveling, like Luke 13:18-19, and the problem will go away.
But I've dealt with enough triggered hominids today, you can look that one up.
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Excellent, we will flog the birds with dusty old books.
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Literal-bound works for me. Darwin will handle you quite nicely.
No thanks... (Score:2)
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As long as they don't fly over your property, there's probably not much you can do.
If they do fly over your property, the question is what you can do legally, plus what you're willing to "try and get away with". Me, I might right up a high net to protect my neighbors from my new personal golf driving range.
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A theory being floated in the face of an obnoxious home owners association is that it may be perfectly legal to build a big 50' HAM radio tower in your backyard. Coupled with plenty of nearly invisible (to drones) cable tethers, you may be able to bring down a few.
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I live in a semi-rural area, so fortunately there's no obnoxious homeowners association here (although I'd prefer to stay on good terms with the neighbors). Given where I live - and the fact that there are several large distribution centers within 5-10 miles of here - I do think frequent drone overflights might eventually be a problem.
I'm also toying with the idea of getting some sort of net gun, if this actually does become an issue.
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Long term, is it possible to fix how stupid (and following, rude) humans are?
Such insouciance... (Score:2)
"Sometimes they are attacked by birds, which mistake them for rivals."
Serves them right...the nerve!
Spray? (Score:1)
Trade asthma deaths for Covid deaths, Jeenyus!
Amazon has been delivering drones for a while (Score:2)
Oh, so that's why... (Score:1)
the FAA is trying to kill the radio control airplane hobby! To give corporations total right-of-way to the lowest airspace!
Delivery (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)