Have you tested the drone delivery app yet?

[deleted member 877]

You have to wonder why a start-up would be wanting to raise a target of only $1,000 on Kickstarter. Cheap advertising?

In any case, the following article recently published by the BBC is worth reading:-

Why your pizza may never be delivered by drone

It essentially backs up most of what I and some others have already posted on this thread.

 

[deleted member 877]

For those who don't believe that People Power can make a difference. The latest state of play in Australia:-

Google's drone delivery trial could be under threat from group of angry Australian residents

And this:-

Ditch the Drones in Canberra

 

[LeeMc]

I see that I'm late to the Zing idea. My hope for this is as a simple utility. Mu son will soon live in a home approximately 1500' from mine. There are no other residents or homes between us, just trees. It is our property, our goal that we've joked about for years is to be able to share a slice or two of pie, or maybe just pass a borrowed tool back and forth.

 

[deleted member 877]

I see that I'm late to the Zing idea. My hope for this is as a simple utility. Mu son will soon live in a home approximately 1500' from mine. There are no other residents or homes between us, just trees. It is our property, our goal that we've joked about for years is to be able to share a slice or two of pie, or maybe just pass a borrowed tool back and forth.

There should be nothing stopping you from realising your dream right now. Even if your land falls within a no-fly zone you would most likely be able to get an exemption to fly a drone within the boundaries of your property. You would need to maintain an unobstructed path between the drone and the remote control, so this might be challenging depending on the placement of the trees between your two houses.

Apart from the above, all you need is a drone capable of lifting and transporting the weight of your proposed packages and a compatible Payload Release mechanism of which there are many available depending on the drone make/model. You don't need to involve a third party to make this happen. All the best.

 

[Former Member]

Many kick starter ideas start with a low threshold.

 

[Gringorio]

You have to wonder why a start-up would be wanting to raise a target of only $1,000 on Kickstarter. Cheap advertising?

In any case, the following article recently published by the BBC is worth reading:-

Why your pizza may never be delivered by drone

It essentially backs up most of what I and some others have already posted on this thread.

I agree and wonder if they are hoping to get just far enough along to get bought out for a relatively large sum buy one of the big players?

 

[dronerdave]

I could see something like medicine where a drone is dispatched and somebody on the ground where it's going to land visually takes control to land it. However beyond VLOS to land??? It is almost impossible in so many places I just don't see it working very well. Humm it's 100 degrees outside and my milkshake has melted...hey my coffee is cold, oh it's 25 degrees out. Now if you're talking about a large enough quad to hold an insulated container that lands at a specific approved site (helipad) maybe but for now this (Mavic) thread screams scam...JMO. It's why I asked which drones or type drones are going to be accepted. If it's to grab total authority over other people set on a similar concept (like a patent) well that might be another story.

 

[DroningOn]

....but for now this (Mavic) thread screams scam....

Of course it’s a scam. Everybody knew this from the get go including the owners/admins of this site who didn’t shut it down immediately.

 

[deleted member 877]

I agree and wonder if they are hoping to get just far enough along to get bought out for a relatively large sum buy one of the big players?

Quite possible but I’m thinking about what would make a start-up attractive in terms of being a takeover target. They would need to have successfully navigated the Approval process and probably also have secured exclusive access to territories – not to mention having built up a loyal customer base.

Otherwise, the big fish would simply set up in opposition – no need to spend money buying out a much smaller entity. They would simply do what big fish usually do to kill off their smaller competitors.

And again most of this is still essentially theoretical except for a recent development involving the legislative approval for a Drone Delivery company called Flirtey to set up operation in the City of Reno. There may be others – I’m not sure.

A couple of excerpts taken from an article posted on the City of Reno website follow:-

“Flirtey received BVLOS approval with its next-generation drone, which was specially designed to carry heavier payloads for longer distances, allowing Flirtey to deliver Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and commercial packages.”

“As one of just 10 selected governments for the highly-competitive program, the City of Reno chose Flirtey as its partner to deliver AEDs for the immediate treatment of a person experiencing cardiac arrest, and to pioneer a scalable model for commercial drone delivery.”

Latest News | City of Reno

I have spent time researching this topic but have yet to see anything offering credible evidence that mainstream retail applications such as Fast Food Drone Delivery in suburban locations are going to become commercial reality in the short to medium term.

 

[deleted member 877]

Yeah, and all of the above is really only about the first baby steps in what will ultimately become a very long and complicated regulatory process. They'll start very soon with the Life Saving Medical deliveries and then, after that, commercial deliveries where the take-off and landing locations are CBD multi-story rooftops well away from the suburbs.

To suggest that the abovementioned Use Cases, if successful, will immediately open up a treasure chest chock full of unlimited Drone Delivery applications such as the now clichéd Pizza delivery thing, well that is really just nothing more than wishful thinking IMHO.

 

[Gringorio]

We would also recommend that you buy some earplugs soon because drone delivery is coming

Another reason I will fight against this in my community.

 

[Meta4]

I think we can all agree that the only thing inhibiting small drone deliveries right now are regulations.

That and a few major issues affecting implementation in a real world environment.
I listed some in post #68 but can't see how they would be addressed.

And for the regulatory environment, it's most unlikely that the FAA would give a blanket approval for any users to ignore current regulations.
They are going to offer waivers for specific users that have been able to show they can operate with a risk level that satisfies the FAA.
Just like the very rare and hard to get waivers to fly over people are now.

 

[AnzacJack]

I can understand that there are many concerns with this and I agree it is a ways off yet, but to make the statement “I hope they fail” is pretty churlish and petty in my opinion. If no one works in this area, then we will never progress. There are certainly plenty in the community that hate drones, and I’m not happy with the opinions that they may have about any of us being permitted to fly, period.
I wish these guys all the best, that they are able to progress the technology, and all of us drone flyers may benefit in some way.

Because the road is long and bumpy, is not a reason for it to not be travelled

 

[Gringorio]

Drone delivery boxes for everyone! Oh, except we have no authorization to fly anytime in the near future. Or ever.

 

[deleted member 877]

Currently you have full authorization to perform deliveries within line of sight. Drone deliveries outside line of sight are already possible with waivers, and eventually they will not require them. Drone delivery is inevitable.

§107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.
NASA UTM Program - Complete this September
NASA UPP Program - 10 Testing Sites for Commercial Drone Operations
FAA IPP Program - 13 Testing Sites for Commercial Drone Operations
3/12/19 - FAA Grant's Flirtey BVLOS Waiver

§107.39 Operation over human beings and § 107.29 Daylight operation.
1/17/19 - New FAA Rules Would Let Drone Pilots Fly at Night and Over People Without a Waiver

§107.41 Operation in certain airspace.
LAANC - 90 second approval within all classes of airspace instead of 90 days.

Ok, so now you need to be specific instead of simply posting links to content related mainly to “proposals”.

Where EXACTLY can the people who funded your kickstarter campaign legally deliver Fast Food using their privately owned drones right now?

 

[Meta4]

Currently you have full authorization to perform deliveries within line of sight.

It would be good if you used proper terminology.
You could fly all the way to the moon and your drone would be within line of sight even though you lost sight of it at 300 metres.

 

[deleted member 877]

Nowhere in the Kickstarter does it say we are going to be fast food deliveries right now. We are laying the groundwork to do them in the future. Suggesting that drone deliveries are never going to happen is denying the fact that the FAA and NASA are almost done implementing the system to make it happen.

“We are building Zing for the everyday drone pilot to facilitate these point to point deliveries using the drones they already have. We also hope to lay the ground work for eventual commercial deliveries that could enable more than 90,000 certified drone pilots to earn money using their own drones.”

Any drone delivery can happen within Part 107 guidelines unless they have a waiver.

For a specific example, a Taco Bell that is on the perimeter of a golf course at 12:30pm on a sunny day. This Taco Bell is not under controlled airspace and the drone pilot can see the golfer he is delivering to with the unaided eye.

I asked for the "right now" example to help reinforce the fact that there is nothing out there except for lame and obscure gimmicks like the Taco Bell thing you came up with. You keep repeating that "Drone delivery is inevitable" like it's already in the bag or just around the corner.

Sure, the life-saving medical related Drone delivery thing in the City of Reno is real and happening but that Use Case is unique with totally obvious benefits and merit attached. It should not be used as an example when arguing the case for general commercial Drone deliveries is the suburbs where the pros are currently (and for the foreseeable future) outweighed by the cons.

Just so long as everyone understands that, apart from "laying the groundwork" endeavours and hoping to do this and hoping to do that, widespread general commercial Drone delivery in locations that will make it even remotely possible to make a viable profit are still a long way off.

 

[deleted member 877]

Thank you for pointing that out. Normally LOS and BVLOS are used interchangeably.



Are you saying just in the United States or globally? Drone deliveries are already happening by the thousands in Australia and Finland with Wing. There have also been over ten thousand commercial deliveries done in Rwanda with Zipline

Seriously?? It hasn't gone past the Trial phase in Australia - how can you possibly suggest that Drone deliveries are already happening by the thousands in Australia?! That is absolutely not true. Maybe a couple of hundred free deliveries but they're not real because it's only a trial. Furthermore there is significant public opposition to the scheme and politicians at all levels always listen carefully to their constituents.

I don't know anything about Finland but I'll certainly spend some time researching your claim. But yes, given that the majority of members of this forum are U.S. based, I have been referring to what's happening there.

Edit: Update - Like in Australia Wing is conducting free trial Done Deliveries in Finland. As for Rwanda I wouldn't be using that basket case of a country as an example of what could happen elsewhere. All you need to get something off the ground there is a big bribe - LOL

 

[deleted member 877]

This will be the first market for Wing in Europe, and its second extended pilot globally: Wing has run four separate trials covering some 55,000 journeys in Australia (and 60,000 overall), carrying things as diverse as medicine and coffee, across a range of environments. As with the Aussie trial, the Finnish service will be free until full commercial launch. It is otherwise run in as market-ready form as possible: people use an app, where they can select items and order their drones.
CEO James Ryan Burgess said in an interview that Wing — and Alphabet — see a clear opportunity to fill a gap when it comes to delivering goods, not just because of the environmental and safety impact of ground-vehicle-based services, but because of the economic angle.
“Today a recipient is charged a delivery fee, but so is the merchant,” he said — which is the typical business model for marketplaces like Amazon’s when it provides services like fulfillment. “Our aim is to provide a service at a cost lower for both. We think single numbers of dollars will be the likely amount an order will cost when it is commercially live.”

Source

I would bet real money that those statistics are wildly inflated. In any case, as I said in my edited post (before your latest one was published), in Australia there is significant public opposition to the Drone delivery scheme and politicians at all levels always listen very carefully to their constituents.

And again all of this is still in TRIAL phase. That's a key point that you continue to ignore. So what if the Wings C.E.O. sees a clear opportunity. And the whole thing about a greener platform is also a sham - in most cases, fossil fuel is being burned to provide the power to charge the Drone batteries. They can't even come up with arguments that are not loaded with dubious clichés.

 

[deleted member 877]

Being in the trial phases is far better than the idea phase.

No need to state the obvious

The data from these 60,000 deliveries will undoubtedly be used in Wing’s case to bring drone delivery to the USA.

Well, Du'h. What else would they be doing?

Plus Alphabet has the influence (financially) to make changes to US policies on their side.

But it won't make much of a difference, if any, to the timeline - nor will it somehow make all of the previously mentioned hurdles magically disappear. Wishful thinking mate - wishful thinking. But hey, if that makes you happy then go with it - LOL.