Drones May Soon Deliver Your Newspaper In The French Province Of Auvergne

Wasn't aware that folks still expect delivery of their newspapers over in France I thought majority read the news on the internet and/or TV. I guess they're cheaper and reliable? or just another way to promote/introduce the use of drones to the next generation? Upto certain extent, it makes sense to deliver packages to remote areas within the US where it might be cheaper to fly a drone then to have a delivery van with an employee driving hours just to deliver a tiny package to someone in some of the western parts of the US where many states are vast. However there are advantages and possible disadvantages to the usage of drones for making deliveries of packages and or newspaper Your thoughts please.

Drones are about to go postal in Auvergne, a province in south central France.

In collaboration with drone-maker Parrot, local postal service La Poste Group will deliver mail via quadricopter drones as early as May of this year, the group recently announced on its blog.

The group is already testing the "Parrot Air Drone Postal" service in Auvergne with a team of 20 postal workers and 20 drones. The postal workers can control the drones by an iPod Touch, iPhone, and Android devices using Parrot's smartphone app.

Drones are becoming more commonplace these days, with thousands of hobbyists building their own and sharing their experiences on sites like DIYdrones.com. Meanwhile, companies like FedEx are anxiously waiting for the day when drones are admitted to standard U.S. air space.

FedEx wants to be able to use drones to transport packages, rather than having to rely on passenger planes. That's because passenger planes need to be pressurized, which is expensive, and they also can't fly in formation, which is much more efficient.

The FAA is working to officially allow the commercial use of drones by 2015, but the drones cannot fly higher than 400 feet above the ground and must be at least five miles away from any airport.

SOURCE

What do they plan to do, fly back and forth collecting one paper and delivering it at a time?!

Sounds a little silly to me

Now.... being able to get medication and other small highly important things to remote locations and that sort of thing, that sounds like a smarter idea for the drones

Originally posted by hp1229
Wasn't aware that folks still expect delivery of their newspapers over in France

I thought majority read the news on the internet and/or TV. I guess they're cheaper and reliable? or just another way to promote/introduce the use of drones to the next generation? Upto certain extent, it makes sense to deliver packages to remote areas within the US where it might be cheaper to fly a drone then to have a delivery van with an employee driving hours just to deliver a tiny package to someone in some of the western parts of the US where many states are vast. However there are advantages and possible disadvantages to the usage of drones for making deliveries of packages and or newspaper

Your thoughts please.

Drones are about to go postal in Auvergne, a province in south central France.

In collaboration with drone-maker Parrot, local postal service La Poste Group will deliver mail via quadricopter drones as early as May of this year, the group recently announced on its blog.

The group is already testing the "Parrot Air Drone Postal" service in Auvergne with a team of 20 postal workers and 20 drones. The postal workers can control the drones by an iPod Touch, iPhone, and Android devices using Parrot's smartphone app.

Drones are becoming more commonplace these days, with thousands of hobbyists building their own and sharing their experiences on sites like DIYdrones.com. Meanwhile, companies like FedEx are anxiously waiting for the day when drones are admitted to standard U.S. air space.

FedEx wants to be able to use drones to transport packages, rather than having to rely on passenger planes. That's because passenger planes need to be pressurized, which is expensive, and they also can't fly in formation, which is much more efficient.

The FAA is working to officially allow the commercial use of drones by 2015, but the drones cannot fly higher than 400 feet above the ground and must be at least five miles away from any airport.

SOURCE

edit on 1-4-2013 by hp1229 because: (no reason given)

Not to be picky, but I can not find any reference to newspaper deliveries?

Post, letters, yes, newspapers no. What did I miss?

Some of the Auvergne is a rather empty area, so it seems a good idea, but how are the drones going to push the post through the letterbox, that's what puzzles me.

Hey, that sounds great! I mean I could never bring myself to so much as utter a harsh word at our normal mailmen. They're nice older guys who usually look like it's the tail end to retirement. Who can get mad at a guy like that, just doing his job?

A DRONE however? Oh my.... Now the next time I get a bill that really pisses me off, I really can kill the messenger if I live there, right? (sets baseball bat next to the door) Come right over, Mr. Drone. I dare ya to leave me a really bad note in my mailbox. You'll be back tomorrow to greet my happy response!

Is it a bird....?
Is it a plane..?


No its the paper boy