this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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Ok sure, there's limitations. So what percentage of their current deliveries are actually possible with drones? If it's above 0%, then there's an opportunity.
Beyond that it's a finance/ risk/ reward/ regulation issue.
Imagine a van which drives into a suburban housing estate and instead of parking individually at different houses for 5-10 mins each, spends less than 5 mins prepping a set of drones which take off from the roof of the van and return in minutes.
It saves time and fuel. It doesn't work everywhere, but it doesn't need to.
In fact it could be the same van. Do deliveries exactly as normal, and use a drone for the last half mile when convenient. It's not either/or.
The big win, I hear, is the massively rural areas;farms and cabins.
The truck can apparently launch two drones at a time, and they save time and fuel -- and don't present a driving hazard for a panel van which now needs to turn around in a potentially winding driveway. Then the truck moves on to the next stopping point when all drones are back.
So if Amazon thinks they could do it themselves, and cheaper, that seems like a good reason for them to focus on it.
I still think it's a gimmick, but them paying to outsource something is a reason to bring it in-house.
Yeah, "small and below 5 lbs" describes like 90+% of Amazon deliveries.