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To use DelivAir, clients would start by requesting a delivery via a smartphone app. Possible scenarios could include a hiker in need of a first aid kit, a stranded cyclist needing a spare inner tube, or even a remotely-located person requiring life-saving equipment such as an EpiPen or defibrillator.
At a store, depot, or other location, the required item would then be loaded onto a drone, which would autonomously fly out to the client's smartphone GPS coordinates. Using the app, the client could in turn check the GPS coordinates of the drone in real time, to see how close it was getting to them.
Now when you break your Ming vase, a drone can deliver another one to you on the spot.
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Delivair Would Deliver to People, Not Just Addresses
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:05PM (2 children)
On the other hand there will be lots of drone parts available on E-Bay.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:26PM (1 child)
LOL that too.
Also I'm unclear how a cop is supposed to tell the difference between a drone speeding along at 45 mph owned by a "legit" company delivering emergency condoms and beer or whatever, vs something homemade delivering emergency weed. So there's that issue, here's a technology that weirdly enough is physical and not really interceptable. I mean there's not even discussion of an "inspection protocol" on the sci fi sites. Thats kinda a first in the realm of illegal item trafficking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @02:58PM
You're describing an exciting new technology the law hasn't yet caught up with -- not one it can't catch up with. Once aerial drone deliveries move from gee-whiz press releases to actual widespread use, they'll make some annoying new laws, and things will go back to normal.
Transponders will be required by law, transponders with fake ID will be a felony (if they catch the drone's owner); the big boys like Amazon will allow cops access to a tracking database, so if the transponder says "Amazon drone #905", it looks it up, sees that Amazon 905 is halfway across town, and the cop knows it's a fake.
Shotgun, net gun, HERF gun, they're interceptable enough, once you know it's illegal and don't have to worry about damaging it.
I don't know about "the sci fi sites", but again, you solve this problem by legally mandating a cops-only override to force drones to land for inspection. (Yes, hilarity ensues when thieves figure out how to transmit an override signal and steal stuff, but don't worry, the lawmakers aren't on the hook for that.) If a drone ignores the override, it doesn't get inspected; it gets shot/netted/zapped out of the sky.
But inspection is really only necessary in airspace where some drone deliveries are legal and some aren't -- I expect national borders, prisons, etc. will not permit any drone deliveries at all (legit companies will be required to respect these exclusion zones, all others will be shot down), and the whole rest of the city is just not worth bothering about -- it's going to be 90% Amazon traffic (do police inspect UPS packages for contraband by stopping delivery trucks, or at distribution hubs?), and the other 10% is probably easier dealt with by stings where the cops order a weed delivery, and nab the drone when it arrives, than by cruising around looking for un/mis-registered drones to inspect.
Sure, these laws will be hard to comply with for anyone who's not doing it for living, but that's how laws go.