gizmodo.com wrote:Innovation in newspaper delivery techniques hasn't really seemed like a priority in awhile because of the whole death of print thing and whatever. But since drones categorically improve all situations, a local French postal service is turning paper routes into air routes.
The postal service "La Poste Groupe" is using Auvergne, France as a test province for a new drone delivery program that will employ Parrot quadricopters to deliver local papers. Tests officially begin in May and will consist of 20 drones being controlled by 20 postal workers from iOS or Android devices. The goal is for the system to be ready for 7am deliveries.
The program faces problems with battery life and range, because the quadricopters only have a range of about 164 feet and 30 minutes of flight time. No word on whether privacy concerns are being viewed as...a concern.
So. This is a thing that is happening now. One might simply be an ass and go "haw haw, those wacky French" but on the other hand, drones are being bought up for police use in the US right now. It's not really much of a stretch to see this sort of thing happening here too, once the general public is more comfortable with the idea.VentureBeat wrote:Residents of Auvergne, a province in south central France, may soon receive their daily paper by drone.
According to a blog post published yesterday, local postal service La Poste Groupe has been working for several years to modernize its delivery processes. A plan has been hatched to implement paper delivery by drone in early May with the help of local volunteers, and tests are already underway.
The drone is a quadricopter, which can be controlled by iPod touch, iPhone, iPad and Android devices, and costs over $300. It is manufactured by Parrot.com, a French wireless devices maker that also announced a partnership with La Poste this morning.
We have not heard back from Parrot.com after reaching out for comment. It’s not quite April Fools — but there are legal issues to consider with this insane (but awesome) idea.
French Internet personalities say they will national attention to the crazy experiment, including Olivier Bernasson, founder and CEO of online store Pecheur.com.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly used in private markets — not just in covert government operations. In 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that drones would prove useful for nonmilitary tasks, such as wildlife-tracking or emergency rescue efforts.
The primary impediments were a short battery life and flight time — often 30 minutes or less.
Today, thousands of amateur drone hobbyists are sharing ideas on websites like DIYdrones.com. And as the technology evolves, the FAA is working with private industry to relax guidelines for personal drones by the end of this year.
So someday soon you might receive your daily paper from a silent, miniature object from above. Let’s just hope it doesn’t drop on an unsuspecting person’s head!
Honestly, I can see this catching on in places like Japan before it does in the US - robots in Japan and other places have been seen as helpers and a part of daily life for a while, so this isn't much of a stretch. But if you stop for a moment and imagine Farmer Billjohn falling somewhere in the forest, and the only one around to hear him and keep him company is a small flying thing with a flashlight, the reaction there would likely not be quite as positive.
