what if one semi-truck could deliver the contents of 10x vans?
what if one semi-truck could deliver the contents of 10x vans in significantly less time than any one of the 10 vans by never getting off the highway?
what if one semi-truck could deliver the contents of 10x vans in significantly less time than any one of the 10 vans by never getting off the highway and be back to the warehouse ready for another round of deliveries within a 2 hours?
Removes - Reloading in the van (people?). Recharging/swapping in the van. Return trip to van. Truck waiting nearby 10 drones go out, what if one gets stuck somewhere? when do you abandon? 9 drones are just idling here and they are critical for the next stop's deliveries.
Adds - Warehouse preparation of drones for flight. more frequency of deliveries, as single truck can cover more ground in shorter time, making hourly delivery (pick your hour: 8.9.10.11 & 12 etc) an option for a much larger audience outside of cities. More Drone Losses - Getting the cost of these oneway units down would be key to offset this.
I think of it like a drone bomber from the sky, but on the ground and simpler to operate (direct operating costs for an airplane anyone.. its prohibitive).
I can see this being useful in various places if the landing question is sorted out, and I think the main one of those is the 'disaster' scenario. Plenty of rural situations would benefit too: you don't have to send a van up a narrow unpaved road, or on a circuitous route, just send a drone over the hills (can this handle non-LOS?) or across the fields. If roads are closed due to snow, you may be able to deliver from the main cleared road (assuming the weather has cleared up enough for the drone).
Some of the Scottish islands are within the one-way range of this drone from the mainland, which might be useful for mail deliveries. Rockets were once tried for this purpose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mail