this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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I've seen videos of a firm doing interesting stuff with bigger "mothership" drones that hover much higher and then lower a much smaller drone like thing on a cable to place the parcel on the ground. They can hit pretty precise targets and can maneuver around more obstacles than bigger drones can.
All that needs to happen is for the tech to advance to the point where it's cheaper to do x% of their deliveries via automated drones than it would cost to have delivery drivers do it and they'll start doing it. Saving millions(billions?) by say halving the number of human operated delivery trucks will make it a no brainer for them.
Are the mothership drones blimp types?
Oh they weren't that big, though maybe you could have a super mothership carrier style thing one day lol.
Turns out it was on a Mark Rober video where I saw the drones. Made by zipline who've been doing interesting things with emergency drone deliveries in Rwanda for years and have a lot of backing.
https://youtu.be/DOWDNBu9DkU?si=pe3Cp5uW7wWqOT7T
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