Re:Apply HN: Zippy, self driving sidewalk meal delivery robots
by afrancis on Thursday April 07, 2016 @01:41PM
(#11449087)
"That's right, we already have manned wheelchairs roaming the streets, so it's not too different."
However you probably don't want a person in a wheelchair delivering one's pizzas ....
Tom, again I would recommend you do some computer simulations and simple break-even cost analysis. Is the problem of pizza delivery really the human not being available, or being idle (is this really a capacity and demand management problem)? What stops a Zippy unit from not being available as it slowly heads back to base? From what I see, Zippy being a motorized land vehicle, suffers all the problems of a car, without any of its benefits. What makes drones appealing to say an Amazon, is the combination of flying that probably easier and safer than driving, and the value of the payload.
In general, last mile problems are tough. Also you have to ask yourself how does Zippy enhance the customer experience?
However you probably don't want a person in a wheelchair delivering one's pizzas ....
Tom, again I would recommend you do some computer simulations and simple break-even cost analysis. Is the problem of pizza delivery really the human not being available, or being idle (is this really a capacity and demand management problem)? What stops a Zippy unit from not being available as it slowly heads back to base? From what I see, Zippy being a motorized land vehicle, suffers all the problems of a car, without any of its benefits. What makes drones appealing to say an Amazon, is the combination of flying that probably easier and safer than driving, and the value of the payload.
In general, last mile problems are tough. Also you have to ask yourself how does Zippy enhance the customer experience?
Cheers, Andrew