Making Tech Headlines · Page 3
Drone Makers Try Selling Doorstep Convenience Without the Flying Lawn Equipment
· New York time
As drone deliveries become more common, manufacturers are looking for ways to make the aircraft quieter. The aim is to reduce the irritating buzz that can accompany a package arriving from above, making the service less conspicuous to the people living underneath its routes. Noise is a practical obstacle for a delivery system that wants to make frequent trips near homes. A parcel may be convenient for the customer who ordered it, but the sound travels to neighbors who did not ask for the delivery. Quieter aircraft could make those trips easier to live with as operators seek to expand the service. It is also a reminder that convenience has an acoustic footprint. A delivery van may come and go along a street; a drone brings a different sound from a different direction. Engineers working to lower that noise are trying to make the technology fit into ordinary neighborhoods rather than insisting that ordinary neighborhoods learn to enjoy a persistent buzz. The commercial challenge is almost poetic: persuade people that a flying machine is a good neighbor by making it less noticeable. For the recipient, the ideal delivery arrives quickly. For everyone else nearby, the ideal delivery may be one they never had to hear about at all. Both customers are being served, although only one ordered the socks.
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