[Wingman4l7]

Drones don't just "fall on people's head[s]". Zipline, the only US-approved BVLOS drone operator I know of besides maybe Google's Wing, had to show the FAA millions of accident-free flight miles they did overseas in other countries, in order to get regulatory approval.

[rpcope1]

One major difference with Zipline versus others is the use of fixed wing craft (in addition to providing critical supplies in areas that are otherwise challenging). The failure mode for fixed wing or even helicopters in the air is way less catastrophic than quadcopters. People like quads because all the DJI stuff that makes it easy, but they're also both by far the least energy and capacity inefficient and most dangerous if there's an issue that causes lift to stop. Given how much people already shit themselves about GA aircraft and recreational RC aircraft, as well as the problems above, I have my doubts about delivery drones becoming a big thing for things like food.

[Wingman4l7]

Zipline's platform 2 is VTOL and is essentially a quad rotor + 1 rear swivel motor, during delivery. A fixed wing won't help you much if you have a failure while hovering. Google's Wing is a very similar design (6 hover motors on a boom, two booms, one along each wing). The key is flight system redundancies, something consumer drones simply don't have, and Zipline also has a ballistic parachute in case of severe failures since their aircraft is fairly large.

Maybe they won't ever become a "big thing", but Zipline is already delivering food directly to consumers in TX and elsewhere.