Yep. But it seems it would be rather cheap to set up an infrastructure made principally of steel towers and (thin) cables, and there shouldn't be many technological challenges. It would be probably faster, more reliable and energy efficient than drones, allowing for heavier packages. Of course at the cost of having to build an infrastructure, and maybe of a smaller, fixed number of delivery points.
> But it seems it would be rather cheap to set up an infrastructure made principally of steel towers and (thin) cables, and there shouldn't be many technological challenges.
Just huge logistical challenges with right-of-way, construction labour, tearing up and making good the {sidewalks,lawns,gardens,driveways,etc}, actual acquisition of poles, ongoing maintenance and trimming duties, etc.
Greenfield installation of infrastructure in public areas is incredibly complex.
Yes, and I imagine it would be really difficult, for good reasons (mostly esthetical), to convince a city to install poles and cables for package delivery. At the same time, we've seen drone trials going on for some time, and the idea of having expensive, autonomous flying machines, on a very limited battery life, carrying weights over our heads and delivering them possibly without even landing but just hovering and lowering a winch, well it seems pretty implausible.
A Google wing drone probably costs a few thousands, can deliver two cups of coffee on range of about 1.5km, in extremely controlled conditions, for 100 suburban homes. And has already pissed off people in the neighborhood. Imagine how it would work inside a city center, and how it would scale. And how would you adapt it to homes and buildings that have no garden and no roof terrace?
I actually have a drone I fly around freestyle for fun, after seeing how truly versatile they are, not to mention how cheap, I'm really not sold on constructing more towers.
The EMax Hawk 5 is 250$ and while I don't know how much it can lift, it's actually a VERY decent amount, if we're just talking about a single person's mcdonalds then no problem. The expenses come from making it more robust, making sure it has signal, etc. But those issues are mostly already solved, especially with a winch the drone can stay above the tree line, a single radio tower would have incredible range - or they might be able to get away with existing 4G towers.
Now you're just down to battery life, and noise. The hybrid fixed wing/multirotor system seems to at least partially address both.
Battery life. And noise. And carrying anything substantial. And adding all the safety mechanisms that prevent it from killing someone in case of malfunction. And mechanisms to prevent it from being stolen or damaged. And autonomous navigation in case of unforseen obstacles (a construction crane?). And the ability to either land or negotiate a delivery point (imagine an urban road, with tall builings, walkways and traffic). And the ability to coordinate with other autonomous drones (avoid collisions, etc.).
I do fly a drone for fun as well. Last Christmas I had the idea of flying it over the frozen surface of a mountain lake, not far from my hometown. Well, about 30 seconds in, a pretty angry buzzard made a straight line for it and crashed it. It weighs about 2.5kg, it crashed on the ice from about 10m. No major damage, but retrieving it from there was, well, tricky :)
