New UPS trucks designed to add drone on top

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Waste of money and very difficult to do because of FAA airspace rules.

Enough said.

 

[Babagounj]

I'll need a good dozen for my drug smuggling enterprise .

 

[Wally]

My center manager likes to drone on.

 

[i Misload Next Day Airs]

Our current guys can barely drive a truck and you want them to fly a drone?

They can't even pack the trucks right and they expect the drones to fit inside..... Or even on top with these trees everywhere

 

[Myleftsideistan]

Pr stunt, the cost would not be with it for those 10 packages it could maybe deliver in a day.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

Oh brother! I did NOT sign up for this! New drone on order. Vehicle OK to operate.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

A well aimed catapult might a achieve similar results at a fraction of the cost.

 

[oldngray]

A well aimed catapult might a achieve similar results at a fraction of the cost.

 

[FrigidFTSup]

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

 

[FrigidFTSup]

Its cute but it still does not solve the fundamental underlying problem of the power-to-weight ratio of existing or foreseeable battery technology. A drone with enough power to get any amount of cargo in the air will not be able to haul that cargo more than a few hundred yards. Extending the range requires a bigger, heavier battery which means decreasing the payload by a corresponding amount. This is the reason why we do not have battery-powered helicopters or aircraft. The only way around this is to use an internal combustion or jet turbine engine, both of which have the necessary power-to-weight ratio but then you run into the problem of scaling them down to a size small enough to fit on or in a truck. Look at the size of a modern, state-of-the-art helicopter versus its payload, even without the weight of a pilot or a cockpit to put him in there is simply no way for a drone to get a significant amount of weight into the air and fly it a meaningful distance with existing technology.

The batteries on newer generation drones are all lithium ion, which overcomes a lot of the hurdle. The materials they also use are extremely light, like carbon fiber. We had drones at my university that were small and could actually fly around for a number of hours without needing a charge. The power to weight ratio isn't impossible to overcome with current gen batteries. The issues become more of battery life. These things can't make 25 stops with one charge, they're going to be limited to essentially amazon envelopes under 10 pounds in the current form and under 5 stops. Not efficient with our set up.

 

[cosmo1]

Waste of money and very difficult to do because of FAA airspace rules.

And trees, and wires, and every other little thing in the way.

 

[Wally]

Drone crashes are chargeable.

 

[3 done 3 to go]

The trees I have to drive thru will take care of anything on my roof. Oops

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

Will they be numbered?

 

[Wilson]

All drone flying fantasies need theme songs. Watch out for the power line drone biatches.

 

[alwaysoverallowed]

Is it going to leave the package out of sight and out of weather? Will it do driver follow-ups? What if the package is refused? What if there's an EC such as house construction or roof replacement? What if the dog is out and it eats the package?

 

[Indecisi0n]

We need t shirt guns

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

We need t shirt guns

Sock gun?

 

[TooTechie]

It's sad the lack of intelligence a ups driver has from some of these replys.
I see a new system like Orion that will use a algorithm system...

An algorithm system? That's like saying wet water. An algorithm is a system. It's a systematic procedure/formula/set of instructions. (If this, then do that, else that, etc). It's a good thing we unintelligent drivers have intelligent trolls like you around. Haterade is thataway----->

 

[TooTechie]

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

That's the first good post you've ever made Kudos.

P.S. Not at all...they could be carried.