Two UAVs, one operated by NASA and the other operated by Australian start-up Flirtey, have made deliveries in an FAA-sanctioned trial.

On the day, a remote piloted NASA plane flew the packages of medical supplies from the Tazewell County airport. These medical supplies were then placed onto the small Flirtey drones for the short flight to the Wise County Fairgrounds. Throughout the course of the day, the Flirtey hexacopter made six trips to the Remote Area Medical Clinic delivering its payload without touching down.
http://www.startupdaily.net/2015/07/flirtey-beat-amazon-market-launching-first-commercial-drone-deliveries-us/

It looks like the cargo was loaded by hand into the Flirtey UAV, and the video shows it delivering the package by lowering it attached to a rope. The article says the UAV is autonomous, but I figure it is being controlled remotely by a human.

It’s a historical event, for sure, however there’s a long way to go!

Remotely operated vehicles are a problem for law enforcement and the military. If the operator is not present, it is hard to question or arrest them, or even know who the operator is. When you combine this with small flying drones that can be purchased cheaply, it is guaranteed that enemies and criminals will continually invent new ways of utilising them. Obvious starting points would be drug deliveries, theft, extortion and terrorism.

In a future where the sky continuously has delivery drones flying by, it will be difficult for anyone to know which drone is which, and which are illegally operated.

MapMerge is one way to manage the drones. If drones rely on a universal system for precision navigation, then that system can be made available only to registered drones.

A different solution denies private drone ownership.

Government Drone Delivery Service

• Drones can only be designed and built by the military
• Drones can only be owned and operated by the government
• Govt creates a drone delivery network that everyone has access to

Generally speaking competition is beneficial, and this applies to most industries, with the exception of some infrastructure.

These typically have competition in advanced economies:

• airlines
• taxis
• shipping
• delivery companies
• long distance buses

But in many instances there is little or no competition:

• postal services
• landline infrastructure
• electricity/gas/water infrastructure

The reason being that competition fragments the infrastructure, causing a doubling or tripling of infrastructure costs.

It would likely be a major negative having different systems running drones in our sky. And as long as aerial drones are cheaper or more efficient than ground deliveries, they will be fully utilised regardless of whether there is competition in the space.

The most likely starting point for drone deliveries would be distribution centres on the outskirts of cities which are fed by traditional transportation. The drones would then fly to numerous designated landing spots within the city, and either continue on wheels or transfer the load to wheeled drones.

Innovation and competition can still occur either side of the drone deliveries – getting loads to distribution centres, and shifting loads from drone landing spots to final destinations.

There is no great need for competition in the drone delivery space. And by controlling both the manufacture and the infrastructure for drones, it will be very difficult for them to be used inappropriately.