Are you interested in delivering food and drinks with your drone for cash?

[picturememiami]

Hahaha brilliant!!! And people thought this was genuine!

In no way do I see this as a good idea only a good concept. Some drug addict gets his mickey D’s and sees a nice couple hundred dollar meal ticket hovering over his head. Then the drug deliveries to jails happens again.

 

[drvrbob]

I like the pun, what are your reasons?

They at the moment are to numerous to explain. I salute your idea, but dont think the technology is there yet with the drones you suggest.

 

[Kilrah]

I believe the current rules regarding LOS will not be in place for much longer. Places like San Diego have already been approved to test drone deliveries for food outside of line-of-sight. Source

BVLOS with the capabilities you're looking for will come, but not with a hand-piloted Mavic. It will be with a $20k totally autonomous certified machine, in 5 to 10 years.

 

[Storyline]

On the subject of drone flights into jails there was a documentary on UK TV this week about the police prosecution of a gang who did this in various prisons. It was a terrible bit of filmmaking. The programme makers tried to make out this was a huge operation with massive amounts of stuff being flown into jails. A mixture of mobile phones, drugs and even digital set top boxes for TV. They showed a group of 4 or 5 people being prosecuted but they gave no details about the number of flights etc. They just implied it was a huge problem. If it was there would need to be drone flights every hour or two and it would be impossible for them not to be caught. The vast majority of smuggling into jails is by visitors, new inmates and sad to say it is alleged by some prisoners that some prison warders are involved.
There is no doubt that most prisons have had some drone deliveries but these must be a rarity.
Apols to the OP for going o/t

 

[JDawg]

All the reasons people have posted why this won't work aside, how much are you willing to pay for a cup of coffee?

 

[SaMavic]

Maybe someone can start a drone dog walking service? What could go wrong?

 

[picturememiami]

Maybe someone can start a drone dog walking service? What could go wrong?View attachment 43192

Most dogs would be chasing the drone so the dog would technically be waking the drone. [emoji23] to that gif though

 

[SaMavic]

Most dogs would be chasing the drone so the dog would technically be waking the drone. [emoji23] to that gif though

Hmm, true.

 

[JDawg]

Maybe someone can start a drone dog walking service? What could go wrong?View attachment 43192

Dang that is funny.

 

[picturememiami]

Dang that is funny.

Now a clever idea is drone walking old people around the block from the retirement home. Gets them fresh air, they can’t hear the swarm of bees and you keep track of gram gram all whilst in Tripod mode with active tracking!

 

[Ken Nash]

I've got another great idea, Storks used to deliver baby's so why not put them back to work and get them to deliver pizza's with the bill etc no battery required, we could train them to RTH.....just a thought...what do you guy's think.

 

[SaMavic]

Now a clever idea is drone walking old people around the block from the retirement home. View attachment 43194

Lol

 

[Drone on]

Zing is an application I am working on that will be like the "Uber of Drones". Drone pilots will make a fixed amount for each delivery they make from places like Starbucks, Jimmy Johns, and Chipotle using their Mavic Pro drones. If you are interested please apply to join the drone pilot fleet at zingdrones.com

I don't see how this is plausible.
Unless pilots parachute the delivery, they may lose connection as they descend to a delivery altitude. i.e. ground level. While down there, what's to prevent someone from getting a free drone (cost of sub sandwich), which could be paired to a purchased RC?
Pilots would likely go through a battery charge per delivery. So, each pilot may need a fleet of batteries to scale the operation. All of these pilots would have to be Part 107 certified. I suspect that are going to want a rate of pay far greater than a car delivery person.
Where are the pilots stationed? How is the food to get to them?
All of this cost/risk for what delivery up charge? The up charge would have to be low enough to keep customer from balking at a $20 Big Mac.
How is the food to be kept warm; especially in winter when flying at an altitude of at least 150 feet, if not 400 feet? Any food warmth protective gear is going to add weight, and are customers expected to reattach it to the drone apparatus?
There may be many pilots that have already signed up for this. I doubt the majority of them are certified, and a concerted effort of this magnitude will be a magnet for FAA oversight.
Sincerely, good luck in this adventure. I just can't see it being practical, or cost effective.

 

[sar104]

I don't see how this is plausible.
Unless pilots parachute the delivery, they may lose connection as they descend to a delivery altitude. i.e. ground level. While down there, what's to prevent someone from getting a free drone (cost of sub sandwich), which could be paired to a purchased RC?
Pilots would likely go through a battery charge per delivery. So, each pilot may need a fleet of batteries to scale the operation. All of these pilots would have to be Part 107 certified. I suspect that are going to want a rate of pay far greater than a car delivery person.
Where are the pilots stationed? How is the food to get to them?
All of this cost/risk for what delivery up charge? The up charge would have to be low enough to keep customer from balking at a $20 Big Mac.
How is the food to be kept warm; especially in winter when flying at an altitude of at least 150 feet, if not 400 feet? Any food warmth protective gear is going to add weight, and are customers expected to reattach it to the drone apparatus?
There may be many pilots that have already signed up for this. I doubt the majority of them are certified, and a concerted effort of this magnitude will be a magnet for FAA oversight.
Sincerely, good luck in this adventure. I just can't see it being practical, or cost effective.

I've wondered about the real logistics, even for Amazon-type drone deliveries. How is the delivery actually made? You really can't have multi-rotor UAVs landing in the middle of crowded areas - the risk is far too high, even if the aircraft is under pilot control, and that's difficult if the LZ is very far from the takeoff point. I can only imagine this working at controlled and manned drop points.

 

[ElPocho]

Zing is an application I am working on that will be like the "Uber of Drones". Drone pilots will make a fixed amount for each delivery they make from places like Starbucks, Jimmy Johns, and Chipotle using their Mavic Pro drones. If you are interested please apply to join the drone pilot fleet at zingdrones.com

I applaud your enthusiasm and get go. I personally don't see how this is feasible. I checked your site and there is not much info there. Have you received any startup funding or are you bootstrapping this yourself?

 

[Thwyllo]

Would like to wish OP good luck with his idea and new business.

Drones will dominate the skies, in a few years, delivering goods, saving lives, aiming police and firefighters, and much more.

Delivering using today's commercial drones, is a difficult and challenging job, and I wish every success.

You can communicate with others having the same idea.

From a quick Google search:
Costa Coffee tests drone delivery service in Dubai

Coffee delivery by drone for $3? It's coming | ZDNet

Coffeecopter

Autonomous drones are now delivering coffee over Switzerland | TechRadar

As for the regulations, I believe that all these restrictions of today, are there (and may become stricter), because all these companies and authorities who will use drones in the near future, don't want our Mavics to get messed with their drones, in the same airspace.

Complete crock. The Swiss one especially was hilarious. Assuming nobody was stupid enough to think these TRIALS ( yes that's all they were) had financial legs, they were just a PR stunt, nothing more. I mean seriously..flying a cup of coffee to land on top of a van so the driver can then deliver it?? You'd have to be a moron to invest even $1 in that.

 

[Ken Nash]

I've got another great idea, why not used a homing pigeon, they have a renowned GPS and they do RTH, and they fit in your pocket - ask David Copperfield. This could be a coo coo.

 

[Thwyllo]

I've got another great idea, why not used a homing pigeon, they have a renowned GPS and they do RTH, and they fit in your pocket - ask David Copperfield. This could be a coo coo.

I've tried that. Pigeon faeces in your coffee isn't to be recommended.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

It's almost certain that in the near future, drones will become autonomous for delivery and surveillance, amongst many other uses.

However, don't be too excited because it will mean even more new strict rules than today. People living in the vicinity of a drone courier route will see one big NFZ around that entire route. Those routes/corridors will only be open for the courier drones which will be big, very expensive, very safe and very autonomous.

I would imagine that when drone courier services have become 'routine', no amateur drone can be flown anymore, except in rural far away places. Even in the usual holiday spots, autonomous drones will be flying around. All in their designated corridor. NFZ for hobbyists all around.
Probably the end for hobby drones except micro selfie drones that will never allow to break any rules because they are programmed not to do so.

Enjoy the hobby for another couple of years.

 

[Thwyllo]

It's almost certain that in the near future, drones will become autonomous for delivery and surveillance, amongst many other uses.

However, don't be too excited because it will mean even more new strict rules than today. People living in the vicinity of a drone courier route will see one big NFZ around that entire route. Those routes/corridors will only be open for the courier drones which will be big, very expensive, very safe and very autonomous.

I would imagine that when drone courier services have become 'routine', no amateur drone can be flown anymore, except in rural far away places. Even in the usual holiday spots, autonomous drones will be flying around. All in their designated corridor. NFZ for hobbyists all around.
Probably the end for hobby drones except micro selfie drones that will never allow to break any rules because they are programmed not to do so.

Enjoy the hobby for another couple of years.

I disagree. Extra legislation and exclusion zones to favour commercial drones being used for surveillance and other darker purposes yes, absolutely.

But this fantasy drone world where stuff gets delivered all over the place is just a joke. There are very few places where a courier on a bicycle can't beat a drone hands down in an A to B race, carrying more weight and at a tenth of the price. It's a gimmick, nothing more.