
Feds give Google OK to test Project Wing drone deliveries - RileyKyeden
https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/02/feds-give-google-ok-to-test-project-wing-drone-deliveries/
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smokeyj
> Though the FAA released its final rules for drone operations in June,
> deliveries still aren't allowed. However, Alphabet has reportedly been
> testing them in the US anyway, skirting the regulations via a NASA waiver

You see, all American's are allowed to be innovative. Some are just more
allowed than others.

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fixermark
That's always been true. Figuring out where the rules are flexible and bending
them is part of the game (in almost all games, really).

~~~
tedunangst
Something of a difference between finding the flexible nasa waiver rule and
actually obtaining a nasa waiver.

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Klathmon
From my perspective, it's pretty clear that "Delivery by drone" is going to
happen. It might not be this year, or next year, or even in the next 5-10
years, but eventually it's going to happen.

I think that if the FAA doesn't keep up with the pace that other countries are
setting (in terms of regulation, laws, and rules surrounding out-of-sight
drone usage), then eventually they will be pressured to rush some solutions
which will probably have some bad consequences.

~~~
Someone1234
From my perspective I think it is pretty clear that drone delivery is never
going to happen and is just a fad.

Firstly, let me just say, technologically drone delivery could definitely
happen. There's no technical reason why not.

But if we look at the history of freight it has always been about efficiency,
and new competitors have always competed by finding ways of being cheaper.

We already have less technical "drone delivery," it is called a courier, but
outside of New York and a handful of other places they're niche. Nobody wants
to pay to deliver just a single package, it is too expensive.

Even services like "next day delivery" work on the principle of economy. You
have trucks which are on other deliveries (economical ones) just drop off the
"next day" packages between them. That makes these "unnaturally cheap."

What do drones offer that a human courier doesn't? It cannot deliver inside
most office buildings, you're still paying for
fuel/maintenance/development/lost drones/etc. It likely has limited capacity.

Plus let's look at competing technology coming up: Automated vehicles. How
long until a delivery van can drive itself to your home, and then send you a
text to meet it outside? That technology is coming with or without drone
development, and solves some of a drone's inherent issues (poor capacity,
lower maintenance, better economy, etc).

I really think drones for deliveries won't go anywhere. It is just a fad thing
because companies want to be cool. Too many problems/limitations/high costs,
and few benefits. And as I said automated vehicles will kill any remaining
shot drones may have had.

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cstejerean
Except a lot of deliveries to residential areas happen when nobody is home. So
getting a text to go outside and get my package from an automated vehicle
won't help me at all. And this is where drones can come in handy. The drone
could deliver the package from the truck to my doorstep. Sure, it may not work
in urban areas with high rises but it will work just fine in single family
house neighborhoods and that's a huge part of the country.

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Zombieball
I think this highlights an important idea. The driverless vehicle and drone
tech aren't mutually exclusive. You could potentially have a driverless box
van that parks on a street corner and has drones pick packages off it and take
them to your door.

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arrosenberg
Without doing any of the math, this actually seems like the right solution. An
automated truck that can drive around while a swarm of drones are continuously
dropping off packages - basically an aircraft carrier.

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Klathmon
I deal with writing software for some shipping and logistics as part of my
job.

This is already how a lot of this stuff works.

A manufacturer ships stuff to a DC, which ships stuff to a 3rd party pool
provider, which ships stuff to a store, which then ships stuff to the customer
(via "regular" mail).

Each step can be thought of as trading throughput for latency. Some
manufacturers only ship things to the DC like once every few months (sometimes
thousands of containers at a time), the DC to pools once a week (generally in
tractor trailers), the pools to stores once a day (in either trailers, or
delivery trucks), and the stores to customers multiple times a day (regular
mail)

Adding another step on the end of that seems like the most likely "end goal"
to me.

Get around the problem of the inefficient "last mile" of delivery by making
the delivery truck a drone platform.

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apendleton
This is pretty sloppy reporting. The single-wing tail-sitter drone design
depicted in both the picture and video accompanying this article and discussed
in the text had been abandoned as of last year:
[http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/17/google-working-on-
new...](http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/17/google-working-on-new-drone-
after-wing-design-failed/)

They do still have a program for drone delivery, but we know nothing about the
drones involved except that these aren't them.

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wrsh07
It looks like they show different prototype designs on their webpage:
[http://www.solveforx.com/wing/our-
approach/](http://www.solveforx.com/wing/our-approach/)

[including the old design. But in the image, they show something with
helicopter-style rotors]

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david-given
Every time I read Vernor Vinge's _Rainbows End_ I find myself wishing that
someone would invent Up/Ex --- big pneumatic cannons which fire disposable
cardboard gliders into the air; they glide down autonomously to the delivery
site and then you tear then open and remove the package. Last mile delivery.

I don't care that it probably wouldn't be practical, or feasible. They'd still
be awesome.

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nbmh
Package delivery is one of the highest profile uses for drones, but I don't
think it's a lasting one. Drones are unlikely to become cheap and efficient
enough to eclipse current delivery techniques on a mass scale. Especially
because traditional techniques will become much more effective as autonomous
cars become feasible.

However, lots of the technology being developed (robust autonomous flight,
improved endurance & range, lower costs) will speed up developments for other
applications that make better use of their strengths. Even more importantly,
companies like Google are finally forcing the FAA to craft realistic
regulations that don't completely cripple commercial applications. The FAA's
lethargic pace has already severely hampered domestic development to the
degree that Google had to do most of their development in Australia.

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CodeSheikh
Google's Project Wing and Amazon's Prime Air are great projects and their
advancements should be encouraged not discouraged. Now as far as the
feasibility goes, "delivery by drone" should be limited to remote areas only
where traditional delivery services do not have good infrastructure and
network. Think a ranch in eastern Texas or Colorado vs a condo in Austin or
New York.

No one need these guys swarming the skyline of Manhattan when the city has one
of the best delivery networks in the nation as many other major metropolitan
cities would enjoy.

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DenisM
I'm amazed with fixed wing vertical takeoff. And landing. There don't seem to
be any moving parts other than the rotor blades. There ought to be some clever
software in there.

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kelvin0
Well, it looks like some Narcos already did (and without the Feds approval):
[http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/smugglers-used-drones-
since-...](http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/smugglers-used-drones-since-2012/)
Wonder how this new delivery method affects street prices for illegal
substances?

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eobropta
My guess is that this article is just indirectly referring to the six UAS test
sites that most companies can already test at for interesting UAS projects.

[https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsid=1...](https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsid=15575)

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karma_vaccum123
I still can't figure out how these things actually deliver the package. Do
they just drop it on my front lawn? That doesn't seem desirable. Does it drop
it at a centralized location because my street has thick tree coverage? Don't
most streets have thick tree coverage?

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microcolonel
Let us hope that this doesn't turn into a protectionist regulatory nightmare.

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onurozkan
first question in my mind; "in exchange for what?"

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awqrre
Google partnered with the government for data sharing (PRISM), so the
Government could probably easily get any data that Google will be
collecting...

