Parcel bods Hermes become latest London drone delivery droogs Parcel delivery biz Hermes has become the latest company to roll out self-driving robots in London, promising autonomous deliveries in the borough of Southwark. The company is partnering with Starship Technologies, whose coolbox-on-wheels delivery drone has become a familiar sight for a handful of households on the city's …
Hermes.... The one company that holds the unique position of being a courier company that not only fails to deliver parcels to my door in a consistent manner (around 95% failure rate), but is also the only courier company I ever used that failed to *pick up* a parcel I had tried to ship with them.
Getting hold of a human was tough, and never managed to get a decent answer out of them, so bit the bullet, ate the loss on money I paid Hermes to deliver the parcel, and just sent it via RoyalMail instead (who, despite all the complaints people have, generally seem to be the best at actually delivering parcels where they need to go, for a decent price). Turns out you really do get what you pay for when it comes to the "cheap" option, and they are not that cheap any more as it stands anyway.
Needless to say, I never use Hermes, and if I find out the seller/shop uses them, I seek out to buy from whichever of their competition uses someone else.
Now, Hermes wants to use self driving robots for deliveries? I guess they really want to hit 100% failure rate with me :-)
In seriousness though, what stops people picking up the robot and its contents, shoving it into a bag and making off with it. Looking at the size of the thing, it will be even easier then pinching peoples pets (and that happens surprisingly often). What about vandalising them? Trying to steal their contents? Or just the local yobs after a few pints who decide it would be funny to throw it into the nearest canal/river/sewer/garbagecan just for fun?
In seriousness though, what stops people picking up the robot and its contents, shoving it into a bag and making off with it
Yeah, I'm not a believer either. These things have cameras, so I suspect they'll post their theft to Youtube while they can (ergo, subverting these things is but a jammer away). That said, someone may hack it and send especially the meal carrying variety to the nearest cluster of people living under a bridge. Naughty, yes, but at least with some social benefit.
I'm not sold on this.
Mmmm --- One wonders at the kind of selfies (and wet robots) the company will get in some parts of London, especially if they extend this to after - pub delivery hours?
Methinks I'd rather NOT have my parcels delivered this way! 'Specially not food.
Technical question: Given the height of that thing, what is its swift manoeuvring capability v that of the average eyeballglued smartphone luser? Just asking. For a friend.
These things have cameras, so I suspect they'll post their theft to Youtube while they can (ergo, subverting these things is but a jammer away).
True, but seeing as quite a few youths actually film themselves doing crimes (and post it on fb/youtube) I doubt they would bother with the jammer. Half the kick they get seems to be from the fact they end up a minor online celebrity in a video for doing something. Like that "happy slapping" craze a few years ago, or even now where someone pinches something, then posts a selfie with the hot goods to fb.
People who do these kind of things don't usually plan ahead and think things through in the first place, let alone consider the wisdom of posting evidence online.
Those who are criminally minded and organised/smart, probably wouldn't bother with these things in the first place anyway, so they are not much of a concern.
Yes, I've always wondered how these drones avoid being intercepted by villains. Just like pets get stolen, washing from your garden, shoes from the porch or any thing else the buggers can lay their hands on, what's to stop some someone from picking up the drone and walking off with it, or simple stamping on it to get the parcel?
And generally don't steal/vandalise other peoples stuff. In Estonia it's common in busy bars and restaurants to leave your coat, hat and brolly on a hook, and it'll still be there a week later [if it was a heavy night!]
CEO is ex-Skype & KaZaA, nice guy, saw him a couple months ago and he was very dismissive of such concerns. So I guess, like the Boris bike, there will be plenty of Starship delivery bots working the streets of Nairobi in a couple of years time.
Hermes never turn up with my parcels or claim I wasn't home after waiting in all day, so maybe this will actually be in an improvement. Unless of course Hermes continue to non-deliver but claim the computer/robot never lies or cannot be wrong.
Until i see better results, i'll continue to beg sellers not to send me stuff via Hermes.
"Like the day I opened the door on a startled Hermes driver who handed me a card telling me I wasn't in."
I have had similar crap from the post office. It seems when overloaded with parcels they swap some for postcards and very quietly shove them through the letter box.
Southwark is a borough of aging council estates and new gentrification high-rises. The street network is poorly maintained and the traffic congested.
I saw one of the drones the other day, with a human chaperone on its heels, with the present technology there is no chance for it to succeed. Perhaps in some flat, broad expanse California suburban sprawl could be of some use, but as I saw it struggling across a tree-root crack on the pavement, I think not here.
I saw one of the drones the other day, with a human chaperone on its heels, with the present technology there is no chance for it to succeed. Perhaps in some flat, broad expanse California suburban sprawl could be of some use, but as I saw it struggling across a tree-root crack on the pavement, I think not here.
Which is why delivery drones need to be bipedal, humanoid, built with a tough endoskeleton, and be able to handle a variety of weapons...
A couple of weeks ago, the "DoorDash" restaurant delivery service did a demo of the robot on a late-night talk show and said they're starting a test pilot in Redwood City, California.
(Not that I remembered the name of the company or city... The only thing that stuck in my head was the show's fake commercial in which the robot, foolishly expecting vehicles to obey traffic laws, takes off across a crosswalk and gets hit by a bus.)
Edit: found the info here:
https://blog.doordash.com/bee-boo-bee-boop-testing-robot-deliveries-on-doordash-bcce554c6c9
Hermes, never again. That is a message I spread as far as I can. Hence this post.
Indeed. As a priority customer for my $WINE_DELIVERER_OF_CHOICE I used to complain on every delivery (I never, ever made anything up - just told the truth like the poster above of opening the door on the delivery driver being about to write up a 'not at home' ticket - my lounge faces the road so I saw him park up, put the delivery down by the door [1] and start to write up the ticket..).
Eventually (and after sending me a £10 voucher with every complaint, they have switched away from Hermes. I guess that they had sufficient complaints to kill the contract[2].
[1] Delivery instructions are to leave round the side of the house, out of sight, if no response. Rather than by the front door, in full view of the road. Especially as the boxes come labelled with the name of the company, which ioncludes the word "wine".
[2] I even had an apologetic call from the Hermes District manager where he promised that things would improve. They didn't. A fact that I mentioned on my next complaint.
how will they ensure the expected partial destruction of any item delivered?? Developing the AI and Big Data stuff to get little Ar$2 here able to fling the item down the path must have been fun! I can only presume that after parcel launch the little tinker will motor after the parcel and run it over a few times?
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