News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by mc32 on Monday August 05, 2019 @09:58PM (#20621355)
I don’t expect a service delivery company to use hobbyist components. That’d be s recipe for disaster. One would think they’d put something like this though its paces before testing it out in public. I’d expect they buy aerospace grade components where possible and build their own to spec where needed.
Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by bigiain on Monday August 05, 2019 @10:35PM (#20621584)
I fully expect most "service delivery companys" to buy their drones from the same Alibaba vendors that share bike ad scooter companies buy from...

Losing them, crashing them, having people steal them or throw them in a lake - those are things to include in your VC funded "operating costs" and to mitigate/offload the risks in your TOS...

(Small print: "The delivery customer shall be wholly and solely responsible for any damages and costs incurred by their delivery and any company equipment used in the completion of the customer's delivery, including but not limited to the drone crashing into a playground full of children." Just like Tesla's abrogation of responsibility when their "autopilot" software is driving the car they sold you...)

Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by mc32 on Monday August 05, 2019 @10:45PM (#20621629)
Not sure how things work in Switzerland, but at least in the US I think these aircraft would be under the purview of the FAA who likely would require some rigor. Likely something similar in CH.
Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by Leherenn on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @07:53AM (#20624305)
The market is too young for this kind of process. Regulators around the world are smart enough to realise you can't expect drones to follow classic aeronautical design and safety processes right now, you would just stop dead the whole field.

So while they gently introduce such rules (mostly centered around see and avoid for now, also identification), the main way they use to ensure safety is restrict where and who can fly them.

You know they can't be trusted, so you don't fly them above sensitive areas. As processes mature, reliability increase and trust is gained, you will see drones expand the airspace in which they are allowed. It's already happening for BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) flights which requires a waiver from the FAA in the US (with paperwork such as risk assessment, collision tests on mannequins and so on), as well as specific equipment/processes.

Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by pfundstein on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @03:22AM (#20622952)
These aircraft are in fact manufactured by a US company (Matternet).
Re:Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second C... by Leherenn on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @07:41AM (#20624253)
There's no aerospace grade for most of the components. It's either custom made for the most critical/unique components, hobbyist parts (who else needs 4" propellers), or cots that are designed for other applications.

Pretty much no one besides DJI has the scale for custom made, except on a few select components. Drones are still in their infancy, those companies are still trying to see if they have a business model and improving/creating technologies. You can't expect mature processes from this environment.