FAA Paves Way For Alphabet Unit To Make First US Drone Deliveries (reuters.com) 48
Alphabet's Wing Aviation unit on Tuesday got the okay to start delivering goods by drone in Virginia later this year, making the sister unit of search engine Google the first company to get U.S. air carrier certification, the Federal Aviation Administration said. From a report: This means Wing can begin a commercial service delivering goods from local businesses to homes, which includes flights beyond visual line of site and over people, the FAA and Wing said. Wing Aviation plans to start commercial package delivery in Blacksburg, Virginia later this year. Wing partnered with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership and Virginia Tech, as one of the participants in the Transportation Department's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program.
They are first because they can pay (Score:2)
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Amazon is known for not paying taxes.
Irrelevant. Corporations buy access with campaign donations and cushy revolving-door lobbying jobs, not by paying taxes.
not delivery (Score:2)
C'mon folks, this is Big Brother Google we're talking about here! These will be surveillance drones.
What could possibly go (Score:3)
They killed Kenney!
Why drones make no sense: (Score:1)
1) Some people will shoot at them, as the parent comment said.
2) Over houses, they will be noisy, scarily noisy.
3) If there is a technology failure, someone in the neighborhood may die, or a house may be burned down.
4) Dog will attack drones.
5) Remote control over drones can ALWAYS be eliminated or hijacked [google.com] by radio frequency interference.
6) Google is POORLY managed! One article: It's become increasingly clear that Alphabet, Google's parent company, needs new leadership. [businessinsider.com] (No
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3) If there is a technology failure, someone in the neighborhood may die, or a house may be burned down.
Brushless DC motors are extremely reliable. A drone is far safer than a 4 ton human-controlled truck in a neighborhood.
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Why do hate my trained attack eagle so?
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1) Some people will shoot at them, as the parent comment said.
Legit issue. In a broader sense, piracy and vandalism is a thing. Because no human is involved, the threshold for violating norms and/or crimetime is way WAY lower. More people will more readily fuck with a robot than they would a human courier. I'm honestly not sure about the rate that people attempt to steal from or randomly shoot FedEx delivery guys, but I certainly hope it's low. On the flip-side, how much do we care? It sucks if I lose a package... but **I** didn't lose a package, the carrier lost the
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It's a pretty simple system of "agree not to fuck with the delivery drone or we'll fine you the cost of damages and the price of sending someone to flip the thing over." You are responsible for your pet.
Fuck you. You're not allowed over my property.
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Do you take potshots at 747's as well?
Russia had this strategy with Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
But. If you don't want them over your property.... don't get deliveries by drone. Easy. Relax dude, just don't sign up for it. You'll be fine.
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Damn it, I don't have the patience to quote this whole mess, so I'll just respond by number:
#1 - The FAA really hates it when people shoot at aircraft, so I don't see this being a huge problem after the first armed idiot gets sent to federal "pound me in the ass" prison for downing a drone.
#2 - If you live in an urban area, it's already noisy all the time. Manned aircraft, loud cars, loud neighbors, construction noises, etc. If you live out in BFE, it's not likely you'll have to contend with drone noise,
Spy copters (Score:2, Insightful)
It will make deliveries.. and also collect data unrelated to the delivery. That's how the service will compete with competitors. If not this company, then someone else will step up to the plate.
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(Oh geeze, nobody tell him about Google's streetview or Amazon shopping profiles. )
But yeah, get ready for "REAL-TIME" streetview available to the highest bidder.
More noise pollution (Score:4)
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These are gonna need to be pretty hefty drones to move these packages around
They will be smaller and quieter than the 4 ton trucks (with squeaky unlubricated roll-up doors) currently used.
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You are a fucking moron. How many packages does 1 truck deliver?
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There's that. But also, if I were them, I'd have picked a state with stronger gun laws. Jed might thinks he's shootin' at some food.
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It was rong on the wreuters article; for once it's not one of manicmcdivot's "corrections".
What could go wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
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Errr....it goes boom?
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I mean, really. What happens when a jet on approach sucks a drone down one of it's engines and crashes?
Approach to what, your back yard? I think the FAA is smart enough to write the exemptions (either 333 or COA) so that sensitive airspace like approach corridors are still protected.
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Google pays a FAA fine for flying out of it's designated area and issues an apology letter to the grieving families.
Are these bastards autonomous? (Score:2)
Are these bastards autonomous? Even so, c6gimmer would still claim it was pilot error if anything went wrong.
Package thieves (Score:2)
Video of what it may look like- (Score:1)
I found this video of a pilot project that shows the "drone" in action, along with the expected outrage against it.
Google Drones Can Already Deliver You Coffee In Australia. [youtube.com]