
Are Delivery Drones Commercially Viable? Iceland Is About to Find Out - NicoJuicy
https://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/drones/are-delivery-drones-commercially-viable-iceland-is-about-to-find-out
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tristanho
> Delivery is around US $7. That’s enough to cover operational costs, says
> Maron Kristófersson, the chief executive officer of Aha. “The electricity
> comes to 25 cents,” he says.

> A delivery can be completed in as little as 4 minutes, versus 25 minutes
> when delivering by road, under heavy traffic. That’s perfect for hot food
> (burgers are the most popular item), but customers also seem to value it for
> groceries (where bananas rule) and hardware (mostly electronics).

Damn. $7 for getting the delivery time to 5 mins from 25 is actually quite
impressive. Assuming this scales well (the hard part, I'd guess) actually
seems quite viable...

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woliveirajr
> They fly according to GPS coordinates, along routes certified free of trees,
> buildings, and other impediments.

> The routes are surveyed and reviewed constantly to avoid new construction.
> To further decrease the risk, the drones are directed over water and
> unpopulated industrial areas as much as possible.

I don't know how much Reykjavík increases each year, but given a population of
around 125k persons, probably there isn't a boom in skyscrapers.

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nerdponx
There is a massive building boom in Reykjavik right now. There is new
construction everywhere.

edit: as far as I know, the boom is not supporting a growing _permanent_
population, but a massive increase in tourism over the last 5-ish years.

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Qwertystop
> Aha’s cook loads the food onto the drone.

>enough to cover the outer ring of ­Reykjavik from Aha’s operations center in
the middle of town.

So they're also running a delivery-only restaurant and have presumably made
wholesale contracts with grocery and electronics suppliers? I suppose the next
step is contracting with existing stores to provide delivery for someone
else's goods.

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cuboidGoat
I thought about how to design pizza delivery drones and came to the conclusion
that perhaps the best approach would be to make a very heavy armored tank,
with a pizza oven built in.

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newman8r
JIT pizza delivery - will probably be a thing some day

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cuboidGoat
I was just working from the principle that lightweight ground drones
containing pizza will get nicked and flying pizza will get shot down and
nicked, but it isn't fair to use weaponry just to defend a pizza and a drone,
so the best approach is to make it heavy enough not to get nicked, at which
point you might as well put the oven in there too.

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RugnirViking
in much the same way that the pizza delivery driver could just drive home and
take his truck and the pizzas. Or that someone could 'just' rob an armoured
truck taking money to a bank.

Why don't people do it? Generally, very few people commit crimes in the first
place. Especially if you make it difficult, and extra-especially if they are
backed up by rule of law in your country.

~~~
krageon
More people do it if it is easier. For example, _far_ more people steal bikes
than cars. Catching a drone with a pellet and a net and taking the pizza out
isn't exactly unthinkable. Especially if you compare it to taking boltcutters
to a bike lock (or a saw) and selling it for basically the price of a pizza.

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slumberlust
Would you eat a pizza that's been dropped by a drone? I wouldn't.

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cuboidGoat
Why not?

