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Mercedes Benz has invested in the drone delivery startup Matternet, and unveiled a concept van that can automatically load packages onto a Matternet M2 drone resting on top. Why not just drive to a package's destination? The system could be used to reach destinations not easily accessible to the driver, or deliver packages or aid during heavy traffic or during disaster recovery. Drones could also fly packages from a distribution center to the van:
Mercedes-Benz Vans and drone tech startup Matternet have created a concept car, or as they're calling it a Vision Van, that could change the way small packages are delivered across short distances.
The Vision Van's rooftop serves as a launch and landing pad for Matternet's new, Matternet M2 drones. The Matternet M2 drones, which are autonomous, can pick up and carry a package of 4.4 pounds across 12 miles of sky on a single battery charge in real world conditions.
They are designed to reload their payload and swap out batteries without human intervention. They work in conjunction with Mercedes Benz Vans' on-board and cloud-based systems so that items within a van are loaded up into the drone, automatically, at the cue of software and with the help of robotic shelving systems within the van.
Matternet has existed since 2011, and originally envisioned delivering 1 kilogram packages up to 20 kilometers on a single charge. As for the vans, I told you so!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 08 2016, @10:57AM
Exactly. Bonus points if the micro-container is deigned to be stacked and packed with maximum efficiency into a big container. Then you build containers with these droneports on the roof:
1 - Factory in Beijing fills standard-sized drone-friendly shipping container with 40000 iwidgets, each in a standard micro-container.
2 - Big container is loaded onto ship, crosses the sea to wherever.
3 - Big container is transferred from the ship directly onto the back of a truck.
4 - The truck's cab is carrying a bunch of drones in one of TFA's battery-swapping droneports. the first one goes and houses itself in the container's droneport, which has the robotic shelving but not the battery swapping stuff.
5 - Truck drives to a city and makes droneliveries[1]. For small communities where there are only a few droneliveries, the truck doesn't even need to stop. Where there are a lot of deliveries, it just parks up in a convenient location and unfurls its solar panels. In either case, the truck shouldn't ever have to navigate down small residential streets or into city centres.
If the truck's handful of drones are too few to make the thousands of deliveries in a reasonable time, a swarm of local drones (probably rented from local providers, but could be owned by Amazon or Apple or the logistics company or whoever) can fly in to help with the job.
Customers can even send their own drone out to go pick a delivery up - assuming the customer has a personal drone that is compatible with the standardised droneport & microcontainer. Such personal drones could even be rented out to the above mentioned swarm.
For coastal communities, you could skip steps 3, 4 & 5 altogether, and just droneliver[1] directly from the ship or port.
[1] I just coined that portmanteau, when Amazon starts using it I want royalties.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday September 08 2016, @03:55PM
We're on the same page, except that this beautiful vision of drones flying conflicts with one important reality: Shipping containers are cheap abuse-friendly commodities.
Getting all that automation, then seeing it sit in a ship for months, is highly capital-intensive.
At this point in time, you're better off with a standard container, and an efficient means to offload the dronainers (see, I can do it too) to the drone carrier.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 08 2016, @04:05PM
I guess at its simplest a "drone friendly container" could be a container with a standard-sized hole cut into the roof, sealed with a hatch. Open the hatch at your destination and mount a cargo-picking robot arm on the roof, and a droneport adjacent to it. The robot reaches down into the container, picks up the goodies and passes them to the drone.
Alternatively, simply build a small, disposable quadcopter into the packaging of every widget. Then you just open up the container and let them all fly home.