Domino's is replacing delivery personnel with flying robots

Are you tired of opening the door for the pizza delivery guy? The awkward feeling when you have to look into their eyes while writing a zero on the gratuity portion of the bill. Or perhaps shouldn't give a tip but you have to whip out couple dollar bills because you feel bad for the poor fella. Well, no worries, Domino's has you covered.

One of the world's largest pizza chains has introduced drone deliveries. Unfortunately you might have to wait a little while still, depending on your location. You see, the trial has started in New Zealand in the town of Whangaparaoa, Qz reports.

The pizzacopters are currently only able to deliver steaming hot pizza to recipients within 1.5 mile of Domino's, but the company says that it is looking to expand the area to 10 mile radius. Also to receive pizza's in your backyard you have to register to the service and have a big enough yard for the drone to land.

The company responsible for the drones, Flirtey, has also completed a government sanctioned test in the US last year. The company is looking to expand to the US and already working on different kind of drone delivery services. It seems however, that it is the legislation and regulations of the FAA that keep us from having flying robots deliver our pizzas.

Written by: Matti Robinson @ 18 Nov 2016 11:58

hearme0

This notion always has been and still is flat out dumb as shit!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, 1.5 miles IN THE AIR with my hot pizza, likely will be cold when it arrives.

10 miles is even worse.

And don't get me started on the idea of being "more in tune with humanity" or more "personal touches" with this stupid idea. Jobs gone! Replaced only by techs in a company designing overtly obnoxious drones.

Commercial drones are lame and have no place in this world IMO!

They are for viewing and reaching places the human eye can't see or access. Services rendered by drones is a true example of the impersonal nature of humanity.

18.11.2016 12:36 #1

KillerBug

1.5 miles isn't that far, odds are it would still be a lot hotter than the last dominoes ice cube I ordered. Plus, it's dominoes...nothing, including the microwave, could actually make it worse.

Delivering pizzas is a s**t job, often drivers end up worse off after 6-12 months than when they started. Even if the effect was just to eliminate these jobs, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Developing drones is not a s**t job, so any additional jobs in this field would be a good thing.

As for the human element, if you consider one minute with some random pizza dude to be an important encounter then you should try meetup or something.

18.11.2016 21:27 #2

scorpNZ

No it's not as dumb as shite ! it means i can get free pizza by shooting the drones out of the sky,obviously i'd shoot the gps unit first,that way they know where it went array but not where it landed mmmm hawaiin pizza

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19.11.2016 18:27 #3

hearme0

Originally posted by scorpNZ: No it's not as dumb as shite ! it means i can get free pizza by shooting the drones out of the sky,obviously i'd shoot the gps unit first,that way they know where it went array but not where it landed mmmm hawaiin pizza This made me laugh my ass off! :)

Still laughing....

UPDATE: Still laughing.....

19.11.2016 23:41 #4

KillerBug

Originally posted by scorpNZ: No it's not as dumb as shite ! it means i can get free pizza by shooting the drones out of the sky,obviously i'd shoot the gps unit first,that way they know where it went array but not where it landed mmmm hawaiin pizza If you can shoot the gps unit off without crashing the drone, follow it, then shoot the drone in a way that makes it descend without crashing...you f**king deserve a free pizza...you deserve a free drone!

20.11.2016 13:18 #5

nu2duo

20.11.2016 20:21 #6

fb2075

Originally posted by nu2duo: Originally posted by scorpNZ: No it's not as dumb as shite ! it means i can get free pizza by shooting the drones out of the sky,obviously i'd shoot the gps unit first,that way they know where it went array but not where it landed mmmm hawaiin pizza Dumb...smh. All this for a pizza I'm SMH at the fact that you actually took that seriously.

21.11.2016 02:31 #7

ivymike

If you wanna go to jail, then by all means. Shooting down a drone is a federal offense.

21.11.2016 03:58 #8

scorpNZ

No it ain't,i don't reside in the states.In fact it's illegal for a drone to fly over private properties without permission here,so i'm not sure how they're allowed to attempt pizza delivery this way over here.However gimmick wise it's bloody hilarious

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21.11.2016 12:03 #9

KillerBug

The FAA actually made an announcement that it is a federal crime to shoot down a drone...it's actually illegal to shoot down your own drone on your own property. The FAA takes every chance to overclassify drones so drones are now aircraft, aircraft need pilot's licenses, and shooting down an aircraft is a major crime with serious penalties. It doesn't matter if you live in a state where shooting down a drone is legal...it's the same as weed...local cops might not do anything but the feds can.

21.11.2016 23:11 #10

Mysttic

I agree with Hearme0 on this one, if it ain't arriving cold, it's arriving broken as shit - with that amount of shaking during flight there is 0 way a hot pizza will not have the toppings slide right off the crust - and that was not the same pizza that was delivered in their promotion when they started eating it.

Then there's still the issue it takes away jobs, that's likely going to be the biggest upset from consumers right now. I'm sure this will blow up in Domino's face.

Last what about upkeep to the drone, it will have to be done more often and annoyingly so than a driver using a car. Which then makes you question what about delivery fees? I'm sure they'll skyrocket up in price as well. Stupid idea.

22.11.2016 10:40 #11

KillerBug

Originally posted by Mysttic: I agree with Hearme0 on this one, if it ain't arriving cold, it's arriving broken as shit - with that amount of shaking during flight there is 0 way a hot pizza will not have the toppings slide right off the crust - and that was not the same pizza that was delivered in their promotion when they started eating it.

Then there's still the issue it takes away jobs, that's likely going to be the biggest upset from consumers right now. I'm sure this will blow up in Domino's face.

Last what about upkeep to the drone, it will have to be done more often and annoyingly so than a driver using a car. Which then makes you question what about delivery fees? I'm sure they'll skyrocket up in price as well. Stupid idea. What shaking? Seems like vibration would be a lot less than a car or a moped. It tilted back and forth some, but acceleration, braking, and turning in a car would do at least as much. Pizzas are amazingly durable...it takes a lot for toppings to slide off. The drone flies at about 100m, so it isn't going up to an altitude with lots of wind or lower temperatures. Not sure how fast this particular drone is, but there are quads that go well over 100kph (over 60mph).

For job loss, I doubt there would be much public outcry at the idea of not being forced to tip someone for taking an hour to deliver a (now cold) pizza. You think maybe delivery people will get together and buy ad space? They can hardly afford fuel.

Maintenance might be an issue...that's really hard to say as some drones are very reliable. Of course if it was actually more expensive than having drivers then this program wouldn't "take off" anyway. Remember they are a business that wants both profit and volume; if they have to raise the price to keep the profit that costs volume.

Also, drivers are not going away even if this does work. You need a yard; the drone can't go to an apartment or condo. I'm sure there are other limitations as well...like it probably won't make deliveries when it is raining, snowing, or particularly windy.

22.11.2016 22:23 #12

hearme0

Originally posted by ivymike: If you wanna go to jail, then by all means. Shooting down a drone is a federal offense. Had to validate that but you're right. FAA just lumped shooting ANY aircraft down, including drones, is federal offense.

GOOD!

Those with the balls and wherewithall to shoot down a drone, are likely willing to go much further. Tantamount to those that abuse animals; you know they'll abuse others too. It's the mentality of it.

24.11.2016 13:29 #13

KillerBug

Originally posted by hearme0:
Those with the balls and wherewithall to shoot down a drone, are likely willing to go much further. Tantamount to those that abuse animals; you know they'll abuse others too. It's the mentality of it. I mostly agree, but there are already potential issues. For instance, it is technically illegal to shoot at your own drone (you can get small orange drones under $20, might be fun to try!), it is legal to build armed drones but illegal to have drone-wars with them (this also means testing on the future of air war fighters is illegal in this country, although someone like lockheed martin could probably get an exception), and since you are effectively powerless to do anything about a trespassing or harassing drone, the law protects bullies and snoops.

In addition to all that, there are already laws against shooting at someone else's property...it would be illegal to shoot at your neighbor's RC car, do we really need a federal law specifically saying it's illegal to shoot at their drone? If so, maybe everyone should submit an itemized list of all their possessions and they could make laws against shooting at each individual one? This is why we just make murder illegal...we don't have 10,000,000 laws like, "it is illegal to murder someone on a saturday on a walking path if they are wearing yellow and you are wearing blue".

25.11.2016 11:53 #14

scorpNZ

lol @ "it is illegal to murder someone on a saturday on a walking path if they are wearing yellow and you are wearing blue"

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25.11.2016 13:14 #15

cart0181

Originally posted by hearme0: Originally posted by ivymike: If you wanna go to jail, then by all means. Shooting down a drone is a federal offense. Had to validate that but you're right. FAA just lumped shooting ANY aircraft down, including drones, is federal offense.

GOOD!

Those with the balls and wherewithall to shoot down a drone, are likely willing to go much further. Tantamount to those that abuse animals; you know they'll abuse others too. It's the mentality of it. If anyone takes the time to read up a little bit on this issue, they will find out this is currently a "gray area" of the law. It is true that shooting down an aircraft is a federal offense, but that is an old law and it's open to interpretation. There are also a lot of other existing laws to take into account. Fortunately, the FAA does not write nor interpret laws. So they can't just "lump" anything together with anything else. The FAA doesn't have that authority!
To your comment, I do agree we can't have crazy vigilantes running around with shotguns looking around for drones to shoot down. Obviously, any of those people will be locked up immediately. On the other hand, a property owner has a right to defend the airspace above their property. That is another one of those competing laws out there. In the US, the airspace immediately above the land (arguably up to 500') is actually OWNED by the deed holder. That is bought and paid for! Likewise, the ground underneath the surface to the center of the earth comes with the deed unless specifically sold separately. Being there without permission is trespassing. If I see a drone on my property without permission, I will look around for the owner. If I see them I'll politely ask them not to do that anymore. But if I don't, absolutely I'll go get a gun. That's a completely rational response and I definitely have the "balls and wherewithal" to do it. At that point it's more about how the drone owner has violated my rights. Personally, I think ultimately this will all work itself out, perhaps even without the creation of any additional laws. There will certainly be legal precedents set.

27.11.2016 19:36 #16

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