
Workhorse drone company tests package deliveries in Ohio - logn
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/10/15/workhorse-drone-company-tests-package-deliveries-ohio/73978646/
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JoeAltmaier
My rural UPS guy variously rings the doorbell, leaves the package in the
garage or even puts it in the back seat of a car parked in the driveway. I'm
grateful for all these attempts; it keeps my packages out of the weather etc
and is far better than a note on the door.

A drone can do none of these things. Perhaps if I had a 'drop box' the drone
could drop the package in, with a ramp top that slid the package into a
weather-resistant interior (like a public post office letter drop box -
anybody remember those?) it could work.

So I imagine drone delivery will be initially restricted to registered clients
(commercial/industrial) with special installed receiver boxes. Not a small win
- many package deliveries are to commercial customers!

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piptastic
Couldn't they just use weather proof packaging instead?

~~~
dripton
They could.

But one of the bad side effects of "free" delivery is a race to the bottom in
quality. My neighborhood UPS guy is awesome -- he rings the doorbell, if it's
raining he puts a bag around each box, if a box is heavy he'll bring it inside
for my wife. The local Lasership folks (different ones every time) are far
less awesome -- they just drop the box on the porch, not bothering to ring the
doorbell, not bothering with weatherproofing. So we've had a couple of boxes
soaked, even when my wife was home, because she didn't hear the delivery.

I'd pay a couple bucks more to get UPS over Lasership, but it's not easy for
me to select that option with most web merchants.

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zo1
Is there no such thing as "signed delivery" there? Almost every single thing
I've ordered online where I live (South Africa), was delivered in-person. They
would not leave the package until it's been signed for. If you're not there
and there is no one else to sign for it, they will take it to the post-office
for you to collect. And yes, this happens even with "free-delivery" online
stores.

Heck, sometimes when import duties had to be paid upon delivery, they would
stay upwards of 20+ minutes while I went to a nearby ATM. In those cases, they
could just as easily have taken the package to the local post-office for
collection.

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dripton
It's up to the seller. If they insist on a signature then the delivery won't
happen without one. But that doesn't happen much in my (nice, suburban, US)
neighborhood. I guess package theft is rare enough that the extra cost of
requiring a signature outweighs the extra risk of not.

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pki
I'm in SF and Amazon packages use Ontrac. Ontrac appears to use contractors
that just have a sticker on the side of their car with the logo. In the last
month alone I've had them forge multiple signatures + report a package as
delivered when I've been home all day and nothing arrived. And other times
they throw it a decent distance or put it in front and it's stolen within five
minutes.

Amazon re-ships via UPS/other and it arrives acceptably. The worst UPS has
done is not knock/ring and that's rare.

90%+ of my packages via Ontrac had forged signatures, misreported delivery
statuses, not actually arriving, [...]

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zkhalique
I am worried about the coming dronepocalypse.

Enjoy your clear skies while you can. When no-name manufacturers can make
cheap drones which can be launched by anonymous malicious people to e.g. drop
bombs on Times Square, there is no accountability. How will our systems cope
with that? For the first time we'll have autonomous, cheaply made robots among
us. (Self-driving cars, by contrast, are not cheap to make.)

And even without malicious intent, there will always be a 1% chance that some
big drone will drop on people's heads ...

~~~
bsilvereagle
> When no-name manufacturers can make cheap drones which can be launched by
> anonymous malicious people to e.g. drop bombs on Times Square, there is no
> accountability.

How is this any different than buying a model RC plane? Many high end planes
have GPS on board and with some modifications, can be made to fly from way
point to way point. RC planes can also get to higher air speeds than a
quadcopter.

~~~
zkhalique
A remote-controlled plane still needs someone to control it. A programmable
robot does not.

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gexla
Doesn't drone refer to an unmanned vehicle?

These vehicles only need the software to be unmanned. Local laws may require
these vehicles to be manned. The definition still doesn't fit.

> While a diesel truck costs $1 per mile in fuel and maintenance, Burns said
> an electric truck costs about 30 cents per mile and drones only 2 cents per
> mile.

> It can travel up to 50 mph. The drone’s battery allows flights up to 30
> minutes and recharges atop the delivery truck.

The difference between diesel and electric is huge, but saving money gets
trickier going from electric to drone. The drone can travel 30 minutes, and
needs X time to recharge and reload with packages. Adding a skill to an
already hectic driving job might require better pay to get people who can earn
their drone wings.

The systems will improve. Battery power will improve. Software will improve to
make the entire system more efficient. Permanent infrastructure (drone hubs?)
may lessen the need for launch vehicles. Launch vehicles will eventually be
self driving. I want my new drone to be delivered by a drone flying vehicle
which was driven into range by a drone truck. All of which were built by
drones. Drones all the way down.

~~~
baddox
> Doesn't drone refer to an unmanned vehicle?

> These vehicles only need the software to be unmanned. Local laws may require
> these vehicles to be manned. The definition still doesn't fit.

"Unmanned" means there is no human on board the vehicle, not that no human is
piloting the vehicle. Autonomous flight is a common feature of consumer drones
(and some military drones), but it isn't implies by the terms "drone" or
"UAV."

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ck2
You know that is an interesting idea, drones for "last mile" of delivery into
standardized dropboxes.

Imagine USPS pulling up to a street but never getting out of the truck,
instead launching two dozen drones which deliver the local mail and small
parcels and then all come back to the truck 10 minutes later. Super recharge
and move to next street.

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ourmandave
What's with package delivery companies and branding?

First UPS did "What Can Brown Do for You?"

Now Workhorse is going to send over a giant Horsefly.

