WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.800 Don't you just hate when you're expecting to receive your monthly shipment of toilet paper via drone 00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:09.200 and some rube with a gun shoots it down so you're stuck using your emergency stash 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:13.680 of cheap, scratchy, single ply? Okay, maybe this hasn't happened to you, 00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:18.480 but why hasn't it happened to you? Amazon has been promising us drone delivery 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:23.040 since all the way back in 2013 when I was but a young graduate. 00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:26.680 But here we are in 2022 when I'm old with children 00:00:26.680 --> 00:00:30.900 and the skies don't exactly look like Coruscant on episode one. 00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:33.900 Unsurprisingly, one big hurdle to mainstream drone delivery 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:37.300 is how, once again, the law isn't keeping up 00:00:37.300 --> 00:00:42.500 with advancements in technology. Aviation is one of the most heavily regulated industries 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:45.860 on the planet and to be fair, it does make sense 00:00:45.860 --> 00:00:48.940 as if we're gonna travel 500 miles per hour 00:00:48.940 --> 00:00:53.140 in a glorified bus with wings like we do on a plane, we at least wanna feel fairly certain 00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:56.300 we won't be turned into charred meatballs on landing. 00:00:56.300 --> 00:00:59.700 But drones aren't exactly the same as commercial airliners. 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:03.020 I mean, they aren't carrying people yet. 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:06.200 But it wasn't until 2016 that the Federal Aviation 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:13.100 Administration in the United States passed rules specifically for drones, commonly referred to as Part 107. 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:18.100 Although Part 107 made the rules of the sky more straightforward for hobbyists, 00:01:18.100 --> 00:01:22.940 it didn't do much to help businesses who wanted to deliver orders via drone. 00:01:22.940 --> 00:01:25.980 Probably the most burdensome rule is that drone operators 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:29.060 have to keep their drones within their line of sight, 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:32.420 not exactly feasible for big companies like Amazon or Uber 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:36.540 who want to deliver lots of packages over fairly long distances. 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:41.500 Now, it does turn out that you don't have to fly under Part 107 rules. 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:47.100 But unfortunately, if you want to do long range package delivery in the US, you have to get FFA approval 00:01:47.100 --> 00:01:51.260 under another set of rules called Part 135. 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:55.860 And that's a lengthy, onerous, bureaucratic, cough to ask process. 00:01:55.860 --> 00:01:59.580 So most of the rules the FFA enforces are designed for traditional planes 00:01:59.580 --> 00:02:04.300 that carry traditional people, not small drones carrying burritos or whatever. 00:02:04.300 --> 00:02:08.900 And new rules have to be adopted that make more sense for delivery drones. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:13.320 But to be fair to our government overlords, the FFA is working to streamline 00:02:13.320 --> 00:02:18.500 the drone approval process and is also collaborating with private industry to create a dedicated 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:21.600 air traffic control system for unmanned drones. 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:26.400 But it could take years before this is all developed enough to allow large fleets of delivery drones 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.180 to take to the skies. Of course, the entire point of the rules 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:34.940 is to ensure that aircraft operates safely. And there are questions about that as well. 00:02:34.940 --> 00:02:39.740 Hobby drones are really light, but package delivering drones like the 11 pounders 00:02:39.740 --> 00:02:43.100 used by Google subsidiary Wing are quite a bit heavier. 00:02:43.100 --> 00:02:46.860 And while you super strong people might think that 11 pounds isn't super heavy, 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:50.580 it would certainly pose a safety risk if something that weighs about as much 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:55.680 as a small dumbbell plummeted from the sky and hit you basically anywhere on your body. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:00.360 Other delivery services will likely be using even heavier drones to deliver larger packages. 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.320 And while drones may never be required to meet the one critical incident 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:07.800 in one billion flight hours standard of commercial airliners, 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.800 they'll certainly need to meet more stringent requirements than they do now, 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:15.160 considering off the shelf drones can and do fail quite frequently. 00:03:15.160 --> 00:03:20.160 And it isn't just about mechanical hardiness either. There's currently not much infrastructure in place 00:03:20.160 --> 00:03:25.440 to control drone traffic or even ensure they won't run into each other or into other objects. 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:28.600 Animal attacks on flying drones have even happened. 00:03:28.600 --> 00:03:32.820 But logistics aside, we can't discount the social part of the equation either. 00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:38.680 While it would definitely be cool to have a drone bring you an emergency box of corn dogs at 3 a.m. in a matter of minutes, 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:42.880 do we really want a bunch of drones emitting that high-pitched buzzing noise 00:03:42.880 --> 00:03:48.640 outside of our apartment Windows just level with your eye line at all hours of the night or day? 00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:53.000 And how about ways to discourage theft? Porch pirates are already a problem. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:57.880 So what might happen once the entire delivery process is unattended? 00:03:57.880 --> 00:04:02.480 Wing has already offered assurances that their drones don't contain high-res cameras 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:06.520 in order to protect privacy, but could this embolden would be packaged thieves? 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:11.800 No one's watching. These are questions the industry will need to find answers to if they're going to run delivery services 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.920 that both make a profit and entice potential customers. 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:19.320 So we're definitely not saying drone delivery will never work. 00:04:19.320 --> 00:04:22.320 Just give it a few years. Patience is a virtue, 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:25.640 even in the age of Amazon Prime. So thanks for watching, guys. 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:30.520 If you liked this video, hit like, hit subscribe if you're feeling saucy, and hit us up in the comments section for sure 00:04:30.520 --> 00:04:33.520 with your suggestions for topics that we should cover in the future.