<story><title>FAA authorizes Zipline to deliver commercial packages using drones</title><url>https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-authorizes-zipline-deliver-commercial-packages-beyond-line-sight</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>&amp;gt; resulting in higher utilization per vehicle&lt;p&gt;A van can hold thousands of 2-ounce packages, whereas a drone can hold one. If you look at it in terms of a one-package utilization rate, a van has over 100% rate, because it holds multiple packages, in fact it may have over a 1000% utilization rate using that metric.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re essentially wasting tons of energy and resources getting very small packages delivered faster, but in urban setting there are no efficiencies here, quite the contrary.</text></item><item><author>jcims</author><text>Sure but there&amp;#x27;s a tradeoff with ground transport.  A drone can make the trip with much shorter traveled distance and potentially higher speed, resulting in higher utilization per vehicle.  It also doesn&amp;#x27;t interfere with road traffic, which could have externalities in longer idle time for other vehicles at intersections and whatnot.&lt;p&gt;Both are better than Garret in his 2007 Ford Explorer driving around town all day delivering timbits and tacos.</text></item><item><author>bnegreve</author><text>The size of these vehicles is certainly absurd, but flying packages with drones that consume most of their energy to fight gravity does not seem particularly efficient either, (e.g. compared to small road electric vehicles with the same payload, which would have its own practical problems).</text></item><item><author>nomilk</author><text>&amp;gt; when your lunch only weighs a few ounces, delivering it in 2-ton gas powered vehicles is wildly inefficient&lt;p&gt;Seems absurd when it&amp;#x27;s put like that. This is possibly something we&amp;#x27;ll look back on and struggle to comprehend how it was ever the go-to solution.</text></item><item><author>Flockster</author><text>A video from Mark Rober about Zipline, to get an idea. I was very impressed when I first heard of them.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DOWDNBu9DkU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DOWDNBu9DkU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>LeifCarrotson</author><text>I just hope my DoorDash order is not sandwich #9,836...&lt;p&gt;A locomotive would be even more efficient over long distances, carrying 200,000,000 such packages. A containership even more so, carrying more than 20x the capacity of a big freight train, though I don&amp;#x27;t think they have the draft to fit up the drainage ditch behind my house. Nor do I have rails.&lt;p&gt;I jest, but the long tail is a real problem with such efficiency calculations.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re right that it&amp;#x27;s never going to make sense to have migrating swarms of drones flying above the interstate carrying packages cross-country, but are real efficiencies here at the individual level:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cell.com&amp;#x2F;cms&amp;#x2F;attachment&amp;#x2F;4b8da4bb-42c2-4b91-baf2-d8abebef903b&amp;#x2F;fx1.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cell.com&amp;#x2F;cms&amp;#x2F;attachment&amp;#x2F;4b8da4bb-42c2-4b91-baf2-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Graphic from &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;doi.org&amp;#x2F;10.1016&amp;#x2F;j.patter.2022.100569&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;doi.org&amp;#x2F;10.1016&amp;#x2F;j.patter.2022.100569&lt;/a&gt;.</text></comment>
<story><title>FAA authorizes Zipline to deliver commercial packages using drones</title><url>https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-authorizes-zipline-deliver-commercial-packages-beyond-line-sight</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>&amp;gt; resulting in higher utilization per vehicle&lt;p&gt;A van can hold thousands of 2-ounce packages, whereas a drone can hold one. If you look at it in terms of a one-package utilization rate, a van has over 100% rate, because it holds multiple packages, in fact it may have over a 1000% utilization rate using that metric.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re essentially wasting tons of energy and resources getting very small packages delivered faster, but in urban setting there are no efficiencies here, quite the contrary.</text></item><item><author>jcims</author><text>Sure but there&amp;#x27;s a tradeoff with ground transport.  A drone can make the trip with much shorter traveled distance and potentially higher speed, resulting in higher utilization per vehicle.  It also doesn&amp;#x27;t interfere with road traffic, which could have externalities in longer idle time for other vehicles at intersections and whatnot.&lt;p&gt;Both are better than Garret in his 2007 Ford Explorer driving around town all day delivering timbits and tacos.</text></item><item><author>bnegreve</author><text>The size of these vehicles is certainly absurd, but flying packages with drones that consume most of their energy to fight gravity does not seem particularly efficient either, (e.g. compared to small road electric vehicles with the same payload, which would have its own practical problems).</text></item><item><author>nomilk</author><text>&amp;gt; when your lunch only weighs a few ounces, delivering it in 2-ton gas powered vehicles is wildly inefficient&lt;p&gt;Seems absurd when it&amp;#x27;s put like that. This is possibly something we&amp;#x27;ll look back on and struggle to comprehend how it was ever the go-to solution.</text></item><item><author>Flockster</author><text>A video from Mark Rober about Zipline, to get an idea. I was very impressed when I first heard of them.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DOWDNBu9DkU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DOWDNBu9DkU&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lttlrck</author><text>This is why I don&amp;#x27;t feel bad ordering smaller items from Amazon when I could drive across town and get it myself.&lt;p&gt;But Uber eats and DoorDash are a reality, and I would pay someone to pick something up for me from Home Depot within the next hour. Services like Zipline have the potential to help out there.</text></comment>