Liz Young of The Wall Street Journal tells her readers that the recent federal approvals have retailers ramping up tests, but hurdles to consumer acceptance remain. Young writes:
Cassidy Shorland, a council member in Logan, Australia, wanted a refreshing treat on a hot day recently, but didn’t want to get in his car and leave the office. So Shorland opened a DoorDash delivery app, clicked on a mango-flavored juice from a nearby smoothie chain, then walked outside as a big white-and-yellow drone came into view and lowered a tethered box holding his juice.
Shorland, 47, is one of the customers in the small municipality near Brisbane who routinely order things from rotisserie chickens to pain medicine delivered by drone.
“I don’t need to get away from my desk until I get a notification,” Shorland said, “whilst some of my colleagues have to jump in the car [and] drive to the closest little retail or shopping center.” […]
The FAA, meantime, is developing rules to make drone delivery “routine, scalable and economically viable,” a spokesperson said.
The agency asked a panel of academics, drone makers and industry experts to study the safety of operating drones out of a human’s line of sight in 2021. The spokesperson said the FAA is now reviewing that committee’s final report.
Read more here.
