Category Archives: Drones

Droid Delivery in London Soon?

Drones

I don’t think I am alone in thinking that delivery drones trundling along the footpath are not far off. There’s no real reason to be concerned about them, because they won’t be big enough or fast enough to be able to do real damage (unless they are used to transport explosives by terrorists…). They will certainly be more efficient for short-distance deliveries, than vehicles or posties.

They won’t really take off until they are part of a great infrastructure. A mega-delivery logistics system…

…or they go completely the other way. Ad-hoc. The Uber of delivery bots. Local small businesses delivering to local people. Tell the app an address and time. Bot turns up and you give it the goods. It trundles off and delivers.

I think there is room for both.

Anyway, enjoy the video. Read the info.

The Drone Manufacturers

Drones

A fundamental aspect of MapMerge is that the drones and droids will  be tracked. Without a doubt regulatory authorities and drone manufacturers will need to be involved. While manufacturers could be forced to comply via legislation, the ideal is for their involvement to be voluntary.

Voluntary is already occurring when it comes to restricting drones from flying over sensitive locations, for example the No Fly Zones of DJI.

There are a number of services that aim to make it easier to operate drones commercially – like AirMap – although it seems they are only trying to abide by current regulations, rather than being a progressive, aggressive solution.

The answer is a controlling system that provides so many benefits (navigation, security, integrity, authenticity) that manufacturers will be clamouring to be part of it.

 

NASA’s Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM)

Drones, Govenrment

You shouldn’t stack acronyms… although Linux might be.

NASA is proposing an air traffic control for drones, and it is pretty good. It ticks all the boxes for what you’d expect from a governmental infrastructure. However, it is missing the greater picture aspects of MapMerge, namely:

  • permission to land on private property
  • identification of drones
  • depth of 3D-mapping to enable intricate journeys in cities

A commercial offering, that addresses real world needs (see above) will be realised quicker and cheaper. That doesn’t mean a commercial solution can’t merge with local government systems.

Drones Becoming Problematic

Drones

The trend is clear – as privately operated drones increase – more issues will arise:

  • accidental collisions
  • being in the wrong place
  • governmental security
  • new and interesting uses for drones (criminal/terrorist)

Control is inevitable. News stories like this will accrue:

Anderson, of course, is alluding to all the recent incidents involving drones in places they shouldn’t be, whether it be a crowded tennis stadium, three drones in three days near JFP Airport, or drones interfering with firefighters. According to the FAA, drone sightings near airplanes are on pace to quadruple in 2015.
Drone “Jackassery” Must Stop