Drone Delivery Was Supposed to be the Future. What Went Wrong?

Summary

In 2013, Amazon ignited excitement with the vision of drone delivery revolutionizing logistics. Despite initial hype, drone delivery has struggled to take off due to technological, legal, and practical challenges. Companies like Amazon and DHL have halted projects, but niche applications, particularly in medical supply delivery, show promise. Consumer preference for cost and reliability over novelty, along with competition from established delivery services, has limited drone delivery's widespread adoption.

Takeaways

• 🚀 In 2013, Jeff Bezos announced Amazon's drone delivery project, promising a future where autonomous drones would revolutionize package delivery within 30 minutes.
• 🌪️ The concept of drone delivery sparked widespread excitement and debate, with many envisioning a near future where drones would be a common sight in the sky.
• 🏙️ Companies like Zipline, SkyDrop, and Google's Project Wing began testing drone deliveries, while major couriers like DHL, UPS, and FedEx explored partnerships to solve last-mile delivery challenges.
• 📉 Despite the initial hype, by 2022 drone deliveries had not become mainstream, with only a tiny fraction of the population experiencing this service.
• 🛑 Amazon's Prime Air faced setbacks, including office closures and staff layoffs, with reports of mismanagement and a lack of clear direction.
• 🚫 Legal and safety restrictions, such as FAA regulations and the need for safe landing zones, have limited the widespread adoption of drone deliveries.
• 🏠 The 'last foot problem'—ensuring safe and precise package delivery to a specific location—has proven to be a significant challenge for drone technology.
• 🌐 Geographic and infrastructural limitations, such as harsh weather conditions, dense urban areas, and restricted airspaces, have further constrained the feasibility of drone delivery services.
• 📊 Consumer surveys indicate that most people are satisfied with current delivery options and are not willing to pay more for the novelty of drone delivery.
• 🛴 Low-tech solutions like food delivery apps have grown rapidly, offering quick and cost-effective services that meet consumer needs without the complexities of drone operations.
• 💡 Despite the current challenges, niche applications for drone delivery, such as medical supply deliveries in remote areas by Zipline, show potential for the technology's future growth and adaptation.

Q & A

What was Jeff Bezos' vision for drone delivery in 2013?

In 2013, Jeff Bezos envisioned a future where autonomous drones would be used for delivery, promising to revolutionize the industry by delivering packages within 30 minutes of ordering.

How did the initial response to drone delivery technology impact the industry?

The initial response to drone delivery technology was highly enthusiastic, with headlines grabbing attention and sparking debates over its potential disruptive impact, leading to a race among companies to bring drone delivery to market.

What were some of the early drone delivery projects mentioned in the script?

Some early drone delivery projects included Zipline delivering medical supplies in Rwanda, SkyDrop delivering a 7-Eleven slurpee and a Dominos pizza, and Google’s Project Wing air-dropping burritos.

What challenges have drone delivery services faced since their introduction?

Drone delivery services have faced numerous challenges including legal restrictions, technological hurdles, public distrust, and practical limitations such as the 'last foot problem' of safely delivering packages to the ground.

Why did Amazon close its Prime Air offices in the UK in 2021?

Amazon closed its Prime Air offices in the UK due to issues such as mismanagement and disarray, as reported by former employees, which led to a halt in the drone delivery project's progress.

What is the 'last foot problem' in drone delivery?

The 'last foot problem' refers to the challenge of safely and accurately delivering a package from a drone to the ground without causing damage or injury, which has proven to be more difficult than anticipated.

How have some companies addressed the 'last foot problem'?

Companies like Zipline, Matternet, and Wingcopter have addressed the 'last foot problem' by using methods such as dropping payloads with parachutes or lowering them with cords from a hovering drone.

What is the current state of drone delivery technology in 2022 according to the script?

As of 2022, drone delivery technology has not reached the widespread adoption initially predicted. It remains largely in the proof-of-concept phase, with only a small fraction of the population having access to such services.

Why have consumers been slow to adopt drone delivery services?

Consumers have been slow to adopt drone delivery services due to concerns about reliability, cost, and potential job loss, as well as the fact that they are content with existing delivery options that are quick and cost-efficient.

What alternative solutions have emerged to address the challenges faced by drone delivery?

Alternative solutions to drone delivery include ground-based autonomous and semi-autonomous robotics, which are being tested in partnership with food delivery services and have fewer regulatory hurdles than drone technology.

How does the script suggest the future of drone delivery might unfold?

The script suggests that drone delivery might find success in niche markets, such as medical supply delivery in remote areas, where it offers unique advantages. Over time, as costs decrease and acceptance increases, drone delivery could expand to other use cases.

Outlines

00:00

🚁 The Hype Around Drone Delivery in 2013

In 2013, Jeff Bezos introduced the world to drone delivery, sparking excitement and speculation. Charlie Rose interviewed Bezos, who envisioned drones delivering packages in under 30 minutes. Several companies followed suit, launching autonomous delivery operations, with media attention fueling the excitement. Major corporations like DHL, UPS, and FedEx joined the race, while startups completed their first drone deliveries. The vision of fast, clean, and efficient drone delivery seemed inevitable, but by 2022, widespread adoption had not materialized. Most deliveries are still made by traditional methods, and drone delivery remains a distant reality.

05:01

✈️ Airspace Restrictions and Safety Concerns

Drone delivery in Phoenix is hindered by airspace restrictions around airports and military bases, complicating the operation. While some parts of Phoenix are unrestricted, safe delivery zones are critical. Drone delivery must be precise to avoid accidents, but autonomous systems face challenges identifying safe landing spots. This creates a 'last foot' problem, making it harder to complete deliveries in residential areas. Solutions like using cords to lower packages or setting up controlled delivery zones have been explored, but the practicality of drone delivery is still limited, especially in dense or restricted areas.

10:06

🏙️ Narrowing the Viability of Drone Delivery

Drone delivery’s viability is further restricted by geography and housing types. In cities like Phoenix, only a fraction of homes have the private yards needed for safe deliveries. Airspace restrictions and other factors narrow down potential delivery areas. Only a small percentage of the population would benefit from drone deliveries, making it more of a niche service. Most urban environments, especially in places with harsh climates or dense populations, face significant obstacles. Drone delivery, once imagined as a service for all, is proving difficult to scale beyond small, targeted zones.

15:09

📦 Drone Delivery’s Competition: Ground-based Solutions

The food delivery industry has thrived, addressing the same needs that drones were expected to fulfill. Consumers prioritize speed and cost, often unaware of how their packages are delivered. Companies like Uber Eats and Grubhub have expanded into grocery and medicine delivery, bypassing the technical challenges drones face. Ground-based robots are also emerging as competitors, offering automation without the legal and logistical hurdles of airspace regulations. The practicality and scalability of drone delivery are being challenged by these more straightforward, cost-efficient solutions.

🌍 Zipline’s Success and the Future of Drones

Despite the setbacks, Zipline found success by focusing on medical deliveries in remote areas. Their drones deliver crucial supplies in regions with poor road infrastructure, where only drones can provide fast, cost-effective service. This approach shows that while drone delivery for consumers may still be a distant reality, specialized use cases like healthcare are viable. As technology improves and costs drop, more companies will likely explore drone delivery for specific needs. Zipline’s quiet but steady expansion is a positive sign that the industry is maturing, albeit more slowly than once anticipated.

Keywords

💡Autonomous Drones

Autonomous drones refer to unmanned aerial vehicles that can operate independently without human guidance. In the context of the video, these drones are central to the theme of revolutionizing delivery by promising to deliver packages within minutes using advanced technology. The script mentions Amazon's Prime Air and other companies like Zipline, SkyDrop, and Google’s Project Wing, which are all working on or have tested autonomous drone delivery systems.

💡Last Mile Problem

The 'last mile problem' in logistics refers to the final leg of the delivery process, which is often the most expensive and least efficient. The video discusses how drone delivery was seen as a potential solution to this problem, as it could bypass traffic and deliver directly to consumers. However, the script also highlights that drone delivery has yet to become a widespread solution for this issue.

💡Disruptive Technology

Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way an industry operates and often displaces established technologies. The video script positions drone delivery as a disruptive technology that was expected to transform the delivery industry by offering a new, efficient, and environmentally friendly method of package delivery.

💡Proof of Concept

A proof of concept is a preliminary demonstration of a new idea or product to show its feasibility. In the script, it is mentioned that drone delivery, despite the hype, has remained largely as a proof of concept in most places, with only a few specific locations seeing actual implementations, indicating that the technology has not yet been fully adopted or proven on a large scale.

💡Regulatory Hurdles

Regulatory hurdles refer to the legal and regulatory challenges that new technologies must overcome to be implemented. The video discusses how drone delivery faces significant regulatory hurdles, such as restrictions on drone usage in certain airspaces, which limit where drone deliveries can operate effectively.

💡Economies of Scale

Economies of scale are the cost advantages that a business obtains due to expansion, allowing the cost per unit to decrease as more units are produced. The script implies that drone delivery services need to achieve economies of scale to be cost-competitive, but the current limited scope of drone delivery operations makes it difficult to realize these cost benefits.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the context of the video, AI is crucial for autonomous drone operations, as it enables drones to identify safe landing zones and navigate complex environments. The script notes the challenges in developing AI capable of achieving the necessary level of reliability for drone deliveries.

💡Gig Economy

The gig economy is a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. The video contrasts drone delivery with the gig economy model used by food delivery apps, where drivers are often independent contractors. It suggests that the gig economy has become a more prevalent solution for last-mile delivery than drone technology.

💡Hype Cycle

The hype cycle is a graphical representation of the maturity and adoption of new technologies, which typically involves a period of significant over-enthusiasm followed by a slump in expectations. The script uses the concept of the hype cycle to explain the initial excitement and subsequent disappointment surrounding drone delivery technology, suggesting that we are currently in the 'trough of disillusionment' phase.

💡Zipline

Zipline is a company mentioned in the video that has successfully implemented drone delivery for medical supplies in Rwanda and other countries. It serves as an example of a practical application of drone technology where the unique capabilities of drones are leveraged to solve specific logistical challenges in healthcare delivery.

💡Consumer Acceptance

Consumer acceptance refers to the willingness of consumers to adopt and use a new product or service. The video discusses how consumer acceptance of drone delivery has been limited, with many people preferring traditional delivery methods or being concerned about the reliability and cost of drone deliveries. This has been a factor in the slower than expected adoption of drone technology for widespread use.

Highlights

Jeff Bezos introduced the concept of delivery drones in 2013, promising a revolution in the delivery industry.

Autonomous drones were expected to deliver packages within 30 minutes of ordering.

The announcement led to debates over the disruptive potential of drone technology.

Drones offered a clean, quick, and convenient delivery option without traffic or fossil fuels.

Startups like Zipline, SkyDrop, and Google’s Project Wing began experimenting with drone deliveries.

Major couriers partnered with tech companies to solve last-mile delivery challenges.

Drone delivery was seen as a solution to fast delivery niche, high shipping costs, and traffic congestion.

Amazon closed its Prime Air offices in the UK, signaling a slowdown in drone delivery development.

DHL abandoned its parcelcopter project after nearly eight years, indicating a shift away from drone delivery.

Legal, technological, and practical constraints have limited the scope of drone delivery.

Drone delivery faces competition from low-tech solutions like food delivery apps.

Zipline found a unique use case for drone delivery in medical supply distribution in Rwanda.

Drone delivery technology may still have a future in niche applications where it offers unique advantages.

The hype around drone delivery followed a typical tech hype cycle, with high expectations followed by a reality check.

Despite the hype, drone delivery is making progress in specific areas, such as medical supply delivery.

The documentary 'The Colorado Problem: A River in the Red' explores water resource issues.

Transcripts

In 2013, Jeff Bezos introduced the world to a concept that promised to revolutionize delivery.

“[00:00:20] Charlie Rose: Bezos kept telling us that he had a big surprise, something he

wanted to unveil for the first time [...] Bezos: but there’s no reason they can’t be used

as delivery vehicles.”

Within a matter of years autonomous drones would engulf cities, sweeping across skies,

delivering packages to front yards just thirty minutes after their order.

The announcement floored Charlie Rose and America alike—grabbing headlines for weeks

and setting off fiery debates over just how disruptive the disruptive technology would

be.

Drones would offer urban and suburban consumers a clean, quick, convenient delivery option

for food, medicine, or whatever else five-pounds-or-less without burning fossil fuels, without getting

stuck in traffic, without making them wait.

The idea felt far-fetched, it was exciting, it was the future arriving in front of our

very eyes, and it signaled that the race to take delivery drones to market was on. 

By the time Amazon landed its first package, Zipline was already delivering medical supplies

in Rwanda, SkyDrop had flown a 7-Eleven slurpee and a Dominos pizza straight to consumers,

and Google’s Project Wing had air dropped burritos to hungry college kids.

A wave of startups sent their maiden drone deliveries skyward to much media fanfare while

major parcel couriers—DHL, UPS, FedEx—substantiated the hype by partnering with the budding tech

companies set to help solve their last mile problems.

Inventors, investors, eccentric billionaires, and the world’s biggest companies were all

pulling the same rope.

Anything, anywhere, anytime: the dark days of Doordash and two-day delivery were over;

the drone delivery era was coming… or so it seemed. 

It’s now 2022 and save for the smallest fraction of a percent of people, it’s not

automated drones dropping off your small packages and food orders.

Pizzas aren’t falling from the sky, they’re showing up in the hands of a highschooler.

Burritos aren’t delicately dropped on your lawn from above, they’re left on your doorstep

by a hustling gig worker.

Your Amazon order won’t show up in thirty minutes, it probably won’t even show up

same-day.

The world 60 Minutes introduced in 2013, the world that felt closer and closer to reality

with every inaugural delivery, just isn’t here. 

Fundamentally, the fast delivery niche still exists.

The last mile still accounts for around 40% of parcel shipping costs, roads are still

increasingly clogged with traffic, green shipping alternatives are still desperately needed,

and consumers still want products as cheap and as fast as possible.

Outside of a few specific locations, drone delivery has yet to take off—and in those

few specific locations, it's hardly more than a proof of concept.

Certainly, delays are understood—expected even—when it comes to the acceptance of

a disruptive technology.

Delayed acceptance though, is at very most only part of the story. 

In 2021, Amazon fired staff and closed its Prime Air offices in the UK.

From the former center of Amazon’s drone project emerged stories of mismanagement and

disarray: employees drank beers at their desks, managers were given no direction, executives

ignored the stalling division aside from the occasional pizza party.

While the company responded to these reports with a statement affirming its continued investment

in drone delivery, Amazon hasn’t released any promotional material for the project since

2016 and Prime Air’s website doesn’t seem to have been updated in years.

The most generous possible interpretation is that Amazon’s project is definitively

on the backburner.

Others aren’t even there.

While Amazon remains quiet on their future intentions, DHL announced in summer 2021 that

it was officially abandoning its parcelcopter project nearly eight years after it’s maiden

flight. 

So, two of the most important drone delivery companies put their programs on ice, few companies

are getting the investment they used to, and no company has yet realized the imminent future

of widespread operations laid out a decade ago.

So, what went so wrong with drone delivery? 

Well, this is Phoenix—a sprawling desert metropolis home to 5 million people.

On first glance, Phoenix seems the perfect candidate for a drone delivery service: its

year-round sunny, dry, still climate would make for easy, reliable flight conditions;

its autonomous innovation friendly city and state governments would welcome them with

open arms; and its sprawling, low-density neighborhoods would make for countless hungry

and impatient residents lacking walkable dining and shopping options.

Surely, this is the low-hanging fruit.

Surely, a drone delivery company could come in, connect any house with any product within

minutes, and demand would immediately outstrip supply, right? 

Well, perhaps not.

Connecting any house with a drone delivery provider doesn’t quite work because in the

center of the city, right here, is Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

In order to assure the safety of arriving and departing aircraft at the busy hub, the

FAA restricts the use of drones within this area.

So, a Phoenix drone delivery service probably just couldn’t operate here… and here,

in the restricted airspace around Luke Air Force Base… and here, around Phoenix Goodyear

Airport… and here, and here, and here, here, and here.

It’s not entirely impossible to operate drones within restricted airspace, but, from

a legal perspective, it ranges from somewhat to extremely difficult—enough that it probably

wouldn’t be worth pursuing for a drone delivery company, at least at the start. 

The rest of Phoenix, though, is fair game… to an extent.

You see, drones need somewhere to deliver to, and it’s got to be safe.

When the concept was first introduced, the vision typically presented was of a drone

flying down, landing on one’s lawn, releasing its delivery, then taking off and flying away.

That didn’t work…

at least not in reality.

Drone delivery is a novel technology and, like any novel technology, the public views

it with an air of distrust—the worst thing the industry could do is prove that distrust

warranted with a series of high-profile accidents at launch.

The first instance of a delivery drone injuring a customer will inevitably ignite a media

firestorm, which could lead to a legislative clampdown, so manufacturers naturally must

strive for perfection.

Perfection is tough to scale, though.

Delivery drones must act autonomously to be cost competitive, and autonomous operations

require computer vision and artificial intelligence able to reliably identify a clear landing

zone.

Determining whether someone is behind or infront of a window, noticing when a dog is running

towards the drone, knowing what’s a pool and what’s dry ground—these are all challenging

for a computer to tackle on its own, and so attaining perfection proves rather difficult. 

Therefore, whereas the logistics field generally considers the last mile of delivery the most

difficult—once the economies of scale are gone—drone delivery is a last mile solution

with its own last foot problem.

It’s fairly straightforward to get a drone to a couple dozen feet above the ground—getting

a package safely to the ground has proven more challenging. 

Some solutions have emerged: Zipline, focusing on longer-distance delivery to a set number

of facilities with dedicated delivery zones, drops its payload in a packaging with an attached

parachute that carries it to the ground.

Matternet also uses dedicated zones for delivering to commercial facilities, while they’ve

developed a system of delivery stations for use by urban consumers.

Uber Eats, meanwhile, implemented a scrappy yet inefficient system where delivery drones

would land on the top of delivery drivers’ cars, then those delivery drivers would walk

the food to the customer’s door.

Most solutions for the last foot problem, however, have gravitated towards one method.

Wing, Skydrop, Flytrex, Wingcopter, and others have developed systems where their drones

hover above the destination at a safe height and lower their payloads to the ground using

cords—far less risky than landing a heavy drone propelled by fast-moving rotors.

What all these solutions have in common is that they require a roomy, controlled, obstruction-free

area to make their final deliveries.

However, in the places where people actually live, that’s hardly a given.

Yards are the best delivery zones that are widespread, but not everyone has a yard.

While it’s a safe bet for single-family homes in an area like Phoenix, it can be hit

or miss whether multi-family homes and apartment buildings have a big enough yard and, even

when they do, their communal nature means that the customer couldn’t necessarily guarantee

that the landing area would be free from obstructions as would be the case with their own, private

yard.

So, at least for an early drone delivery service, it probably wouldn't work in restricted airspace

and probably not for anything beyond single-family homes either. 

These and other legal, technological, and practical constraints combined mean that the

scope of what works in terms of drone delivery is narrow.

It’s pretty easy to start crossing off cities—Boston’s winter is too harsh, New York’s density

inhibits yards, DC’s airspace is too restricted, Pittsburgh's landscape is too hilly, this

could go on and on.

Even within the cities that might work, there are only so many areas that might work.

While it varies by company, most delivery drones tend to be able to fly to deliveries

as far as about six miles away.

So, assuming early operations would base out of a single location to capture economies

of scale, meaning their drones would have to return to said location to charge after

each delivery, that means a viable first delivery zone in Phoenix—optimizing for a large area,

free of airspace restrictions, centered on wealthier neighborhoods—would be this.

310,987 people live in this zone—a small chunk of the metro area’s 5 million.

However, in Phoenix, only 63.2% of housing units are single-family, which are likely

to have the private yard necessary for a delivery, and only 92% are occupied meaning, in this

prime zone, at least extrapolating using city-wide data, which is the most precise available,

there are only 180,820 possible users of a drone delivery service.

This is, clearly, an imprecise methodology, but it’s indicative of how the prospect

of drone delivery—the prospect of anything, anywhere, anytime—is getting diminished,

and diminished, and diminished down into a niche service for a lucky few.

A small system linking a strip mall to the neighborhood behind it, a fixed route flying

COVID vaccines from a distribution center to vaccination sites, six shops delivering

to a small part of a small town in Virginia—drone delivery has hardly moved beyond proof of

concept, and it’s not even clear that they’ve proved the concept. 

 In 2016, when asked about same-day delivery, 70% of respondents said they were content

with the cheapest option while just 23% of respondents said they’d pay more for same-day.

For drones to prove commercially viable they’d need to decisively corner that quarter of

more willing consumers, and to become ubiquitous, they’d likely need to operate at no extra

charge from ground delivery at all.

Most people, it turns out, are simply okay with waiting a day or two for their packages,

while all want them delivered as quickly and as cheaply as possible. 

When the drone delivery hype hit fever pitch, one bit of nuance went overlooked.

Consumers simply don’t care about how a package gets from b to c, so long as it’s

quick, cost-efficient, and reliable—they’d opt for a new technology once for the novelty,

but by the 100th time that wears off.

Eventually rationality will return.

In fact, when surveyed in 2020, consumers perceived drones to potentially threaten those

most important factors for delivery—they said they were uncertain about drones’ reliability,

cost, and were worried about the job loss they could incite.

Meanwhile, competitors have figured out a number of low-tech solutions that fulfill

these consumer desires: look no further than food delivery apps. 

Since 2017, the very moment when drone delivery hype hit fever pitch, the food delivery industry

has tripled in size, ballooning into a $150 billion sector globally.

In this, speed matters and consumers expect to pay for the delivery cost—facts that

seemingly pave a lane for drone delivery.

But between Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Doordash, the power players are already established

and the competition is already fierce.

These comparably low-tech companies don’t even tell the consumer whether to expect their

burger to come by car, moped, bike, or foot; they just prioritize getting food to doors

quickly, pleasing the consumer regardless of method and undercutting drone delivery

in the process.By-and-large, food delivery apps closely match the upside of drones within

urban and suburban areas without the hassle of complying with FAA guidelines and figuring

out the last foot problem.

Adding to the competitive problems facing drone startups, these companies and others

have since expanded into grocery, medicine, and goods deliveries.

Put simply, from the consumer perspective, the problem drone delivery was designed to

address has already been solved without building out a massively complicated aerial delivery

network. 

The current low-tech, gig economy model isn’t perfect, though.

For consumers and restaurants alike, the usage fees are expensive; for those delivering,

the pay is minimal; and for the big players, profit has proved elusive.

One partial solution is automation.

Here still, though, drones are likely to lose out.

Ground-based autonomous and semi-autonomous robotics have begun popping up in test markets

and partnering with the likes of Uber Eats and Grubhub to expand their reach.

While a recent partial ban on sidewalk-wandering robots in San Francisco points to the hurdles

the technology faces, these hurdles just won’t be as numerous as those facing drones.

Automation and technological advances may well help smooth out food and last-mile delivery.

In the near future, your prescription, your lunch order, or your afternoon coffee might

be showing up at your front door courtesy of an autonomous vehicle—you’ll just need

to reach down and grab it from a robot instead of unclipping it from a drone above.  

Now, many probably now look at drone delivery in retrospect and find it unsurprising that

the bombastic claims of the 2010s failed to pan out, but far fewer would have expressed

a dissenting opinion just five years ago.

That’s because this is a rather classic story: that of a hype cycle.

A new idea comes around, a few early players start development, then something—a launch,

a demo, or even just a domino effect—sets off a media firestorm painting a rosy picture

of a future revolutionized by this new technology.

This story is so archetypal in tech that there’s even a theoretical framework defining the

process: Gartner’s Hype Cycle.

According to it, after that media firestorm, that peak of inflated expectations, results

slow and sentiment starts shifting downward.

Investors complain and the public’s memory fades until the media begins coverage of the

purported failure.

The public grows disappointed, but then grows silent, and in the silence, first generations

are adapted into seconds, failures inform potential success, and slowly something meaningful—albeit

minor compared to the original vision—starts to work. 

We are here.

While what’s happening may be drowned out in the media by what’s not, there are applications

that are starting to work.

Three years ago, Zipline was a small Silicon Valley startup operating a few dozen drone

delivery flights per day in one region of Rwanda.

They relied on the principle that many medical products are crucially important when used,

but not used regularly, and often have short shelf lives, making them tough to economically

and efficiently stock at smaller clinic operations.

In less developed regions, poor road infrastructure makes many remote clinics many hours or days

away from a distribution center, despite relative proximity as the crow flies.

Therefore, Zipline’s drones acted as a quick, low-cost distribution system for necessary

medical products to remote areas dotting Rwanda’s rolling hills.

Far more places than Rwanda’s Southern Province fit this description: nowadays, Zipline operates

similar systems in the country’s Eastern Province, four regions in Ghana, the US, and

a number of other locations are in active development.

Excitingly, the news of Zipline’s impending expansion to the Ivory Coast hardly made news:

it wasn’t written about in Wired, TechCrunch didn’t publish an article about it—just

a simple press release and some industry and regional coverage.

This is progress.

This shows that Zipline’s deployments aren’t proofs of concepts, aren’t publicity stunts,

they’re actual, real, commercial implementations.

Crucially, Zipline didn’t find a use case that drones could fulfill—they found a use-case

that only drones could fulfill.

They found the healthcare use-case—they found the low-hanging fruit, and other companies

are noticing.

Matternet and Wingcopter are now placing heavy emphasis on their medical potential as well. 

As the early use-case matures, cost will come down, acceptance will rise, and innovators

will find more uses that only the novel technology can fulfill.

Once one becomes clear, more must be possible.

Eventually, everything will creep closer to that idealistic vision first presented at

peak of the hype and then, just slightly delayed behind expectations, the new technology will

finally have actually changed the world. 

Unlike delivery drones, what I hope does live up to expectations is our brand-new, feature-length

documentary, which came out today after almost a year of work.

It’s called The Colorado Problem: A River in the Red and rather than trying to describe

it, you’re about to become one of the first people to see its trailer, but before I need

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site that just jacked up its price.

It’s these exact subscriptions that enable us to do these big, ambitious documentary

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But now

to the point: the trailer.

As a reminder, to watch this doc, click the button on-screen or head to CuriosityStream.com/Wendover

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