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jfcarr t1_j3jnfp8 wrote

This is probably going to bring a lot of legal fighting in the courts soon, at least in the US.

Here's a PDF describing the current drone overflight rules: https://www.namic.org/pdf/drones/1703_privateairspace.pdf

There are sure to be challenges to the current state of the laws and regulations as delivery drones become more common.

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CreamFilledLlama t1_j3k6qt3 wrote

I can only imagine how thrilled someone will be once their house becomes a major fly over route. Airspace rules only work now because it is infrequent with exceptions around airports.

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Dokibatt t1_j3kh8xs wrote

If I can't legally float a net made of high test fishing line suspended from a weather balloon above my own property, why do we even have a constitution?

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ThePokemon_BandaiD t1_j3myfmi wrote

actually i think you can, you're legally allowed to use as much of the airspace above your property as you can, and a passively existing net might not count as interfering with aircraft.

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AwesomeDragon97 t1_j3nraqj wrote

Yes, you own the land from the surface up to right below federal airspace (so someone can’t build an overhang over your property or fly a drone over your property without trespassing on your land or public airspace). In addition, at least theoretically if you also have mineral rights to the land you own all of the land from the surface to the core of the earth in an upside down pyramid shape.

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ThePokemon_BandaiD t1_j3nrqgt wrote

that's actually not entirely true, someone can fly a drone in your yard, the law is pretty ambiguous there, but you're also allowed to use as much of the airspace as you want, and a hanging net structure probably wouldn't count as interfering with aircraft in the same way that retroactively shooting them down etc would

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AwesomeDragon97 t1_j3nxkav wrote

There is no specific federal laws on this issue in the US or Canada, so it depends on the municipal laws. In many cities there are laws that say you can intercept a drone if it is flying over your yard below a certain altitude (usually up to 300 to 400 feet).

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slipperyShoesss t1_j3kz9ly wrote

Constant drone noises “mwwweeeeeeerrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”

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CptGooglyEyes t1_j3l55jg wrote

As someone who hates leaf blowers I am not excited about this noise

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maskedpaki t1_j3md47z wrote

why cant it just take public routes like cars ?

just fly over roads and into estates and land on driveways. sure that takes longer than a birds flight but it also solves most of the issues you refer to.

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joeschmoe86 t1_j3kgl3t wrote

It'll be Uber all over again: Don't care if it's illegal, do it anyway and scale it so fast that the political fallout from prosecuting such a popular service into oblivion would be too great.

For anybody who doesn't remember, Uber started out as an illegal taxi service with a phone app until cities passed ordinances to accommodate it.

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DigitalSteven1 t1_j3kvsur wrote

Actually curious how that'd be illegal. Seems like it'd also really be on a state by state basis. But I still don't see how it'd be illegal for a middleman to deliver food for you. That'd be like saying paying my mom to pick up carry out for me would be illegal.

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Excludos t1_j3l78aa wrote

>how that'd be illegal

It's about the safety of drones flying above people, cars and houses. If one falls out of the sky, at worst case scenario, what kind of damage can it do? Imagine what one of these can do, and then imagine thousands of these in the air at the same time. Drones are already heavily regulated, and these trial areas have special allowances to operate. You can't just expand it nation wide without changing the rules

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NoxFortuna t1_j3lgyp3 wrote

It's not just one at a time imo, the logistics of it all are going to be very difficult to pin down without massive, heretofore unseen cooperation between all entities using them. Think of how many straight lines exist between a single Domino's and every house it can service, and imagine drawing that straight line on a map. Now do that for every single Domino's. Then do it for every McDonald's, every BK, every Wendy's, every DD, every Starbucks, and that's just a few restaurants. If this were somehow simultaneously implemented in every store and restaurant overnight tonight, there would be nothing but colliding drones all over the streets. We'd have to pin down regulation altitudes that didn't mix each other and be prepared to prove and fine any violators- since lower heights should be faster processes and thus entities will fight over those "rights." Delivery points would need to be slightly different down to a foot or two so a house ordering two things at the same time doesn't have them collide at the destination or land on each other. If someone decides to plant a tree in their yard, we need to hope the drone doesn't divebomb into it thinking that space was clear the last few times.

We could probably solve this with more technology, and communication between delivery drones- similar to how a city full of auto cars could have them transmit location information to each other to speed up traffic. However, similarly, that requires all the entities making the drones to play nice and nobody trying to exploit the system to gain an edge.

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youreblockingmyshot t1_j3m56jy wrote

Drops pizza onto windshield of car going 70 mph causing 30 car pile up and 5 deaths with several injured. Papa John’s could not be reached for comment.

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RidesThe7 t1_j3m7qph wrote

I was trying to think of likely bad scenarios, and this one is more plausible than what I was coming up with.

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Excludos t1_j3mgxbe wrote

I mean, you don't need to dream up incredibly unlikely scenarios. Imagine thousands upon thousands of these in the air, crashing daily. They'll hit powerlines, people, cars, windows, etc. Not all of them dangerous necessarily, but when they happen enough times, it's bound to go wrong

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youreblockingmyshot t1_j3mdu4r wrote

Glad I could help. It’s never to early to regulate proper pizza box folding techniques.

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flickh t1_j3mobwp wrote

Delivers new fridge to playground full of children, chopping off several heads with rotor blades

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jessehazreddit t1_j3m6uga wrote

Because previously all drivers and taxi services, serving the public at least, normally require(d) licenses. Uber added Eats later.

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joeschmoe86 t1_j43fl8l wrote

And those licenses were usually limited in number, hard to get due to competition, and extremely valuable. Then Uber just came in and ignored all of that, got away with it, and the people who followed the law got totally fucked.

That said, the people who followed the law were taxi services who were using the rarity of their licenses to charge exorbitant prices, so not many people outside the industry cared.

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Fairy_Princess_Lauki t1_j3l61j9 wrote

In my state at least it’s illegal to fly a drone over fenced private property, anywhere that isn’t easily visible from the street

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RedditEzdamo t1_j3m5fnt wrote

I think legality falls on Uber not actually being a real job if I remember correctly? I know they have so bizarre rules that make it so the drivers don't actually "work" for Uber. They're like volunteers that can get tips.

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iama_bad_person t1_j3l7jqo wrote

I'm in the RC plane community and some people are having to quit because their states are placing insane requirements on what they need on their planes and the FAA changing legal height restrictions to bow to these delivery companies.

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