Pizza delivery drones are on their way to New Zealand, but there’s a major hurdle they need to overcome before taking off in the United States: trust.
According to a recent YouGov poll, only 37 percent of Americans believe pizza delivery drones would drop off their order undamaged. Only a third of those surveyed trust that a drone-delivered pizza would arrive at the right temperature. Two-thirds said they’d prefer a human delivery person to a delivery drone.
Millennials aged 18-34, of course, trusted the pizza delivery drones more than any other age group in the survey.
When asked to state their level of trust for a hypothetical drone delivery service run by Amazon, 38% of people said they would trust it. For the United States Postal Service, that number came in at 23%, followed by Google (20%) and Walmart (19%).
Overall, 39 percent of people said they would not trust a drone-based delivery system to work, regardless of the company behind it. This suggests that despite the advances in drone technology, and relaxation of regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration, companies may have to target young people eager to try new technology to get a drone delivery service off the ground.
The FAA’s Part 107 rules for small commercial drones went into effect on Aug. 29, 2016. The new rules apply to drones that weigh under 55 pounds. This 624-page document outlines everything you need to know. Basically, companies that want to use small drones for commercial purposes no longer need permission from the government to do so. Now companies can fly small drones after they pass a multiple-choice test and pay a small fee.
These new rules, however, didn’t really address delivery drones. The visual line of sight and flying over people restrictions still prevent drone delivery from taking off. But this is, at least, a step in the right direction.
