I’m aware that some, such as Amazon, are working on making deliveries via drone. How do they manage to protect the drone and its cargo from capture and theft?
Not much different than what they already do with their delivery vans. They are tracked and have cameras. Not many vans successfully stolen. Packages are already stolen off porches, its part of being in the business. Drones could deliver to more secure areas, like a fenced in backyard or a businesses rooftop.
Drones are a lot smaller than vans, and do not have an accompanying human, so I’m not sure that’s a valid comparison.
Would there even be a market for stolen drones? First you know it has a tracking device on it, two you also know it has cameras and third what use would it be to a buyer to take the risk of flying around an obviously stolen piece of equipment for everyone to see with Amazon logos and colors? You didn’t steal the controls and signals to control the drone can very easily be encrypted or Amazon could just brick the drone. Chopping up the drone for parts seems to labor intensive for a small rate of return.
I would think that vandalism would be a greater concern.
I’m a bit more concerned about theft of cargo.
As I said before, Amazon already deals with package theft so I don’t this would be any different for them. Just take the loss as the price of being in business.
And drones will have a lot fewer packages than a van and doesn’t require front door/porch delivery. Also since this drone is only possibly serving one customer its delivery timing could be matched up with customer schedule and then be actually picked up by the customer immediately at an agreed upon secure location.
What risk would there be of theft of cargo that isn’t present for literally every other method of delivery? The only time the drone will be low enough to grab is when it’s at the recipient’s front porch. You could just as easily wait until the delivery vehicle (whatever it is) has dropped off the package and left, and then grab the package.
Proliferation of drones will create opportunities for human ingenuity. Drone plinking could become a fad.
Shooting at drones could become a thing , but it would be a very stupid thing that could easily be dealt with, much like lasers being pointed at aircraft was a thing for a while. The things can be fitted with high resolution cameras that can help identify vandals from a very good vantage point. If certain areas became problems the company could easily work with the police to send out drones equipped to detect objects being launched towards the decoy drone and track the people attacking it. Instead of a package it could be carrying a radar/IR tracking unit and perhaps even paintball guns to mark the perp.
You just know that there are already teams of people working on these and other scenarios. Its part of a failure mode analysis that just about all companies do for new products.
People have experimented with using drones for deliveries, but I’m skeptical that it’s ever going to be a regular thing in practice. For one thing, the things are noisy, making an annoying whine. And if someone in a neighborhood is shooting down drones, aside from identifying and prosecuting the offender, Amazon (or whoever) could just stop making drone deliveries in the neighborhood. I’ll bet there are neighborhoods where they don’t leave packages on porches because theft is so common.
You are correct, but ‘stupid’ is not a deterrent. Stupid makes it likely. The police might take some action initially but would loose interest fast. The Feds are more likely to be concerned, but lack the resources to do anything.
Drones are ideal targets for mischief. They are the new insulators. Easy targets and nobody gets hurt. Imagine the bragging rights for cross bow plinkers. Better than feral dogs.
And, you are correct that some bright people are studying the problems. I’m glad I don’t have their job.
Chronos,
What do you see as the market for drone delivery? Common commodity or high dollar value? Fast response? Specialty like secure or remote areas? All of the above? It seems like the security problems would vary with the market.
Where’s the value added for Amazon?
The main element of the market for drone delivery is low-weight, since a flying vehicle that can deliver a heavy package is more expensive than one that can deliver a lightweight package. And the main value added for Amazon is twofold: Being able to send a delivery using only a small vehicle, instead of a big truck, and being able to send a delivery without having to pay an expensive human driver. In dense urban areas, where you can fill up a truck with packages to be delivered all to a fairly small area, they probably won’t catch on, but I don’t know what density the changeover point would be.
Well, sure - shooting at RC model aircraft and small general aviation aircraft has occurred from time to time for decades. Of course this will come up. And of course it’s already illegal to do that sort of thing.
But, back to the OP - snatching a flying object out of the sky is not that easy. Theft by hijacking the guidance signal for the drone would make the most sense for a professional thief (stupid amateurs are another matter). Take over the drone, land it where you want it to land, and heck, you could then send it back to Amazon but more likely just ditch the drone - I’m assuming it’s the cargo that will have the most value.
Of course, the very first counter-measure will be encrypting/protecting the guidance system.
Shooting something out of the sky over peoples head is a big thing. These drones are registered with FAA as well. And do people get the point that these drones have camera and instant tracking data that can be relayed to police in real time? These are not modern day insulators, a BB gun is very unlikely to hit one, let alone damage one.
One market is food delivery. Are people going to take a chance of going to prison for a pizza?
I doubt theft of packages will be a serious security concern. The average delivery box today is worth a lot less than it was 10 years ago because as the cost of delivery goes down, it becomes more reasonable to get cheaper and cheaper things delivered.
In a future world where drone delivery is common, the average drone delivery is likely going to be worth less than $20. Just not worth it to bother with. Sure, it’ll happen here and there, but I can’t see it being a major problem that threatens anyone’s bottom line.
If we’re assuming these are drones operated by Amazon or another large corporation, I assume they will provide their own investigative resources to assist the police in investigating and prosecuting the crime.
I think this is one of those ideas, like self-driving cars, that sounds interesting, but that, as one of those threads says, is decades away from actually happening on any kind of significant basis. Furthermore, IMHO, if it ever happens, it will be for a very limited range of products in very limited areas.
Gross numbers - Man+truck $600 a day for 120 packages ~ $5/pkg
Perishables are probably a higher dollar market - transplant organs, rare plants, live animals. Also, JIT delivery of high value materials like platinum or silicon wafers. But, then the value becomes attractive for thieves or hijackers.
I’m going to guess the best application would be the last mile - or more specifically, the last 100 feet. I would envision, for small (<1lb or so) packages, a drone and robot system capable of loading from the back of a slow-moving truck. (Say, a robot grabs the packages from the van and puts them on a rear platform for the drone. The drone runs over to the porch and drops (places ) the package, then returns to the vehicle. The driver does not have to park, secure the vehicle, and find the package, and walk up the driveway for a tiny delivery. he just cruises the neighbourhood at 10mph in any area with several deliveries then moves on to the next area.
And delivery might be simplified for two parallel streets, the drones could hop over the houses to deliver on the next street. Heck, the van could carry multiple drones on the roof hangar and hit seveal places at once. For apartments, you could tag your balcony after you sign up with Amazon, and the drones would be delivering to half a dozen apartments in a matter of minutes securely on the balconies while the driver sits idling outside the building. No waiting for someone to buzz them in, no waiting for elevators or to answer doors.
And someday, there will be self-driving vans which will be highly secure and alarmed to prevent human intrusion.
After all, why fly a $5 package 5 miles from the depot when you can bring a roving depot to the local street?
As for security, as others point out, the most insecure system right now is porch delivery by any means. How could it get any worse? People pot-shotting at drones for gits and shiggles? If the flight paths are sufficiently short, there will be plenty of cameras (on the drone and the delivery van) to capture anyone interfering in deliveries. When this becomes as ubiquitous as the mail, the tolerance for interference will become much lower.
I’d be more worried about the cranky old geezer decorating his property with kites and weather balloons to discourage overflights.