Just yesterday, we took a look at how drone delivery was being almost aggressively hamstrung by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which was dragging its feet on establishing any rules at all for drone delivery, and then bringing out rules that barely allowed the field to advance when it finally did release rules.
A Boston-based firm known as Bridj may have found the solution, and all from going in a different direction: by ground.
Bridj wants to introduce a package delivery service that uses self-driving androids at its heart. Since the company is already offering bus rides, with users summoning said rides from a fleet of buses with 14 seats per bus, Bridj figures it might be worthwhile to use those buses for deliveries also, via the BridjBOX service.
The company would use the same routing software to connect delivery locations and bus routes, and the company drivers—which apparently would eventually be androids—would then deposit the packages in storage lockers throughout a city.
Since Bridj mainly operates in Boston, the concept has at least some merit. Perhaps most shocking of all is that Bridj would start running this service, if all goes as planned, by the end of the year.
If there’s already a self-driving bus service roaming around Boston, the idea that it could carry packages is actually a worthwhile complementary good. It makes me wonder if it’s only a matter of time until some Boston pizza place gives Bridj a call and suggests a profit-sharing arrangement for pizza delivery.
What’s particularly impressive here is that this may be the ultimate key to getting drone delivery systems up and running; instead of going for aerial delivery, go for ground instead.
While it may require a little extra infrastructure in automated buses and the like, the concept is sound enough and, in some cases, already a part of aw.
I don’t suppose anyone will much care if it’s land or air based, but drone delivery can still take place one way or another. It may reduce the range a bit, but the notion of a high-end dinner delivered to your home at any time of the day or night is an exciting one.
