Chapter 276 Long Bet

Chapter 276 Long Bet

Chapter 276 Long Bet
After Jiang Miao and his wife came out of their family bucket, they saw a drone flying in from the balcony on the second floor of the West Fast Food Restaurant, and then the drone flew out with a package.

He looked up.

It was discovered that the drone was painted with the Fengmei Takeaway logo, and the package it had just taken away was a takeaway.

“Is this Fengmei’s food delivery drone?”

Li Zixuan on the side immediately replied: "Yes, boss, this is the food delivery drone that Fengmei Takeaway has recently tested."

"A caged drone?" Jiang Miao seemed to be thinking about something.

After a while, he saw that the drone did not fly over the highway, but flew to the rooftop above the shops on the street, and then flew quickly to its destination.

Li Zixuan explained in a low voice: "Boss, the reason for flying like this is to prevent the drone from losing control and falling, hitting pedestrians and vehicles on the road."

"Can you tell me in detail how Fengmei designed the flight route?" Jiang Miao handed his daughter to Shuya.

Li Zixuan is also a man of experience. He knows a lot about the company in advance and is able to answer Jiang Miao's sudden questions.

He smiled and replied, "Boss, it's like this. Fengmei started the food delivery drone project in August last year, but during the actual testing process, plus a series of model simulation tests, they found many problems with drone food delivery."

"What are the problems?" Jiang Miao said as he walked.

"The first problem is the problem of drone signal base stations. To achieve precise control of drones, a large number of signal base stations must be deployed inside the city, which is too costly."

Hearing this answer, Jiang Miao took a sip of the Tianfu Cola he just brought from Western Fast Food: "Hic... This problem can be solved. Blue Whale Airship is testing a fixed airship in the stratosphere. This airship can be transformed into a communication airship."

If a photovoltaic airship is used and fixed at an altitude of 1.8 meters, it can basically cover the ground with a radius of 480 kilometers and form an efficient communication local area network.

Of course, considering the obstruction of terrain and urban buildings, there will be communication blind spots in electromagnetic waves, so it is necessary to use a combination of low-frequency bands and high-frequency bands.

A low-frequency band that can be precisely controlled, with a range of 100 to 200 kilometers.

Key hotspot cities need to be reinforced with high-frequency bands, but high-frequency bands can only cover within 20 to 50 kilometers.

In this case, the communication base station airship can only float directly above the hot city, which can ensure its maximum coverage of the surrounding area and guarantee communication within the city.

As for whether to build ground communication base stations to supplement them.

Jiang Miao thinks it’s not necessary.

Because terrain blocks electromagnetic wave communication, this problem can be solved by repeated coverage at multiple angles.

After all, it only costs one or two million for Blue Whale to build a communication airship. If a communication airship has a communication blind spot, then deploy a few more around it. This is much more cost-effective than building a ground base station.

Because the communication airship is not a photovoltaic airship, it does not need to transmit electricity to the ground through cables, so it does not need cables connected to the ground. The electricity generated by the airship's own photovoltaic panels and batteries is only needed to maintain its own position while ensuring high-quality communications.

This type of high-altitude communication platform is much more cost-effective than communication satellites, whether in terms of cost, communication quality, or maintenance difficulty.

The only thing that is inferior to communication satellites is probably the communication radius.

However, although the satellite's communication radius is long, it is achieved at the expense of communication quality. In addition, the weight that can be carried on the satellite is limited, so the communication capacity is also limited.

If a stratospheric airship like the Jellyfish photovoltaic airship is converted into a communications airship, the weight of the communications equipment it carries can reach more than ten tons, as it does not need to carry transmission cables or generate too much power.

More than ten tons of communication equipment, which communication satellite can carry so much equipment into outer space? This is a weight that is difficult for communication satellites to reach.

Li Zixuan had also read the relevant internal information of the company, but he did not have as high authority as Jiang Miao. He only knew that this project existed and did not know the specific progress. However, since the boss said there was no problem, he naturally assumed that there was no problem.

Then he continued: "The second problem is the crash problem. Even if there is a relatively accurate drone signal control base station, there is still a risk of the drone crashing during flight. The more serious risk is that the drone is flying in crowded areas and traffic routes. Once a crash occurs, there is a possibility of casualties."

Shuya, who was holding her daughter, interjected, "This is indeed something that needs to be focused on."

Li Zixuan nodded, and then continued: "Fengmei has simulated the future operation of drones in cities. As major food delivery and express delivery companies enter this field, the density of drones in cities will increase rapidly in the future, which means that the probability of drone collisions is also increasing rapidly."

"How do they plan to solve it?" Jiang Miao asked curiously.

“The idea is to establish dedicated flight routes.”

Hearing this answer, Jiang Miao raised his eyebrows: "Only fly over the roofs of buildings? Although this can solve part of the problem, the buildings are not connected, so we must fly over the roads."

"Yes, Fengmei has also thought of this problem, but they have come up with a solution, which is to set up blocking nets or even blocking pipes above some roads."

"Barrier net?" Jiang Miao immediately understood Fengmei Company's idea.

Because Hailufeng Company produces high-strength silicon bean filaments, this material can maintain a service life of 20 to 30 years even in an open-air environment.

The blocking net woven with silicon bean silk is enough to stop a falling drone. Not to mention a drone weighing just a few dozen kilograms, even falling objects weighing hundreds of kilograms can be blocked by the blocking net.

At the same time, the barrier net woven with silicon bean silk is very light in weight and uses fine mesh. It is estimated to weigh more than 100 grams per square meter. One ton of ordinary silicon bean silk can weave a barrier net of 10,000 square meters.

At present, the ex-factory price of ordinary silicon bean silk of Minqin Group is about 3.5 yuan per ton. The cost of weaving it into a net is not high, and it is estimated that the processing cost will be increased by a few hundred yuan.

This is indeed the best way to solve the potential safety accidents when drones fly within cities.

As for algorithms, AI assistance, or manual assistance, none of them are as reliable as this.

Moreover, this facility can be directly transformed into a passive drone interception system during wartime to prevent enemy drones from wantonly harassing the city.

Of course, in order to avoid these barrier nets from entangled in urban birds, the mesh size must be relatively fine, with a side length of about 2 cm to 4 cm. When fully tightened, birds will not be entangled even if they collide with them.

If this approach is adopted, a layer can be laid on the highway to separate the drones from the road surface, which can reduce many safety concerns.

However, Jiang Miao immediately thought of another problem: "If the air above the road is completely sealed, then if there is a fire or high-altitude work, these barrier nets may become an obstacle."

Li Zixuan nodded: "Yes, Boss. Fengmei's research team has also noticed this problem. In order to avoid this problem, they adjusted the original plan and changed it to a plan of laying a network of roads and building bridges, with the airspace above the buildings as the main channel."

Jiang Miao shook his head: "It is true that there are fewer people above the buildings, but the heights of the buildings vary, and there are people moving around in many residential buildings, which is also a problem."

After listening for a while, Shuya smiled and said, "Good things take time. Fengmei has tried every possible way."

However, Jiang Miao attaches more importance to safety than anyone else: "Although drones are convenient, safety within the city must be taken seriously. Otherwise, when the full implementation is launched in the future, a large number of drones will fly densely in the city sky. Who would dare to go out shopping?"

As for the option of not using drones.

Jiang Miao knew that there was no choice for Fengmei takeout.

Because companies like Kangaroo, Shunfeng, and JD.com have already conducted experiments on a small scale, if they don’t follow suit they will be eliminated by the market.

Although Fengmei Takeaway defeated Kangaroo Takeaway in Shanmei, it does not mean that Kangaroo Takeaway has no power to fight back.

Now Fengmei must follow up on the delivery drone project.

After much thought, Jiang Miao still felt that there would be a lot of trouble if drones entered the city.

Li Zixuan also remembered something: "By the way, Boss, Fengmei is still experimenting with another delivery project."

"besides?"

"There has been no formal experiment yet, but their customized equipment has arrived, and they plan to find a place in the city to test it after the Chinese New Year."

"What specific project is it?"

"It's... it's..." Li Zixuan didn't know how to describe it for a moment. After thinking for a while, he thought of something similar: "It's similar to the distribution system hung on the ceiling used in some hospitals."

"Hospital? Ceiling?"

Shuya thought of something: "It should be the overhead crane system used by the hospital."

Speaking of the overhead crane system, Jiang Miao suddenly realized: "Oh, it's this!"

Li Zixuan nodded quickly: "Yes, it is the overhead crane system."

"Use an overhead crane system to deliver goods within the city?" Jiang Miao began to think.

"Fengmei's project planning is like this..." Li Zixuan carefully explained the settings of the system to the two.

It turns out that the Fengmei Takeaway project team intends to use high-strength silicon carbide nanotubes to weave cables. This high-strength material is very wear-resistant and heat-resistant, and can be made very thin. Using a cable car with a total weight of no more than 50 kilograms (including cargo) can not only maintain a good speed, but also miniaturize the entire system and reduce the overall project cost.

With Hailufeng's current technology, the weight of a small cable car can be compressed to about 20 kilograms, thus achieving a payload of 30 kilograms.

If charging is a concern, one can also directly arrange an additional high-strength aluminum-silicon nanotube woven conductive wire and use a pantograph mode similar to that of a tram. This design can also deduct about 10 kilograms of payload from the weight of the cable car.

The security of this system is definitely beyond doubt.

Because the cable car can avoid the problem of sudden falling through various self-locking mechanical devices.

The only issue that needs to be considered is the overall cost.

The cost of cables is actually not high, even if there are two of them, one load-bearing cable and one special cable.

According to current data, the cost of load-bearing cables is approximately RMB 1225 per kilometer (35 kg weight), and the cost of special cables is RMB 875 per kilometer (25 kg).

Including the pipeline protection shell, supporting columns and other supporting facilities, the average cost per kilometer of a single line is about 5000 to 6000 yuan.

If you want to cover the hot spots in the entire Shanmei urban area, a single line will need to be at least 200 kilometers long, which means the material cost is about 100 million to 120 million.

Plus construction and land use costs and the like.

All things added up, a 200-kilometer line would cost about 500 million.

After estimating this cost, Jiang Miao also figured out why Fengmei Takeout would consider building a city skytrain system to deliver takeout.

You know, with the technical strength of Hailufeng Company, this system can basically be used for about 20 years, and the maintenance cost for 20 years is estimated to be almost the same as the overall construction cost.

In other words, the annual depreciation cost of this system is about 50.

How many takeaway orders do you need to deliver in a year to earn back 50?
Based on the current average profit of 1.7 yuan per order from Fengmei Takeout, 294118 orders are needed each year, or an average of about 2.45 orders per month.

However, at present, Fengmei Takeout can receive 20 to 30 takeout orders every month in Shanmei City.

In other words, almost one month's gross profit is needed to maintain this distribution system.

So what expenses can this system reduce?

First of all, it is impossible to reduce the number of deliverymen because the overhead crane system cannot deliver to households. Deliverymen are required to make short-distance deliveries, and they are also required to go to stores to pick up takeout or goods.

This is equivalent to reducing the intermediate transportation links, which can effectively shorten the delivery time, reduce the vehicle and insurance expenses of the deliverymen, and improve customer satisfaction.

The overhead crane system does not need to wait for traffic lights, can ignore traffic jams, and can operate regardless of rain or shine, or extreme cold or heat. With AI-assisted management, it can even provide 24-hour delivery.

Currently, the deliverymen of Fengmei Takeout are formal employees, so the deliverymen’s electric scooters and car insurance are all paid for by the company, which is money that can be saved.

Considering that the density of takeout orders in the suburbs is relatively low, food delivery drones can be used.

The two systems are combined to use delivery drones for long-distance suburban areas and an overhead crane system for short-distance urban areas.

It not only avoids the risk of large-scale drone entry into cities, but also enables efficient delivery while reducing the labor intensity of deliverymen.

If robot technology is advanced enough in the future, we can also consider letting deliverymen control robots in the office to replace the deliverymen's short-distance delivery work.

Of course, Jiang Miao didn’t know which model was better.

Anyway, Hailufeng Company now has huge financial reserves, and the experimental testing of Fengmei Takeout only costs a few million yuan, which is a drop in the bucket for Hailufeng Company.

There is actually not much difference in cost between delivery drones and delivery overhead cranes.

Although a delivery drone is just a drone flying around, in fact, the supporting costs behind it are not small, such as communication base stations, remote control personnel, control centers, etc. These supporting facilities must definitely keep up.

The advantage of the overhead crane system is that it does not require a base station and too many remote control personnel.

To give an analogy, drones are like cars on the road, and the overhead crane system is like trains on the railway.

It is easy to achieve unmanned automated driving for freight trains on dedicated routes, but the difficulty of achieving unmanned automated driving for cars on the road increases sharply.

Because the variables of these two systems are different.

A transportation system with fixed, dedicated rights of way has very few internal variables.

However, transportation systems without fixed road rights have very large internal variables and many external intrusive variables.

Drones and cars are transportation systems without fixed right of way.

High-speed rail, subway, light rail and skytrain are transportation systems with fixed right of way.

Although those so-called driverless cars are hyped up, as long as they are put into operation on a real highway system, traffic accidents will still occur. The reason is that the highway system cannot be closed for operation, and there is no way to prohibit the entry of pedestrians, animals, and human-driven cars.

No matter how powerful the algorithm of an autonomous driving system is, it is impossible to accurately judge all conditions on the road.

As long as humans are in the driving seat, the possibilities are endless.

Whether it is fatigue driving, drunk driving, road rage, newcomer killers, female drivers, deliberate cutting in, speeding, natural disasters, etc., if you encounter such situations, artificial intelligence cannot respond 100% reasonably.

In the end, human intervention is still necessary.

But human intervention takes time.

Sometimes a serious traffic accident leaves the driver with only a few seconds to react.

Can a remote control personnel who has just initiated forced manual intervention determine the entire situation within a few seconds?
The answer is self-evident.

Obviously it is impossible.

It's like you are sitting in the office drinking tea, and suddenly you jump to the driver's seat of a car on the highway. In front of you are several cars that have lost control. Can you make the right judgment in an instant?
No matter who you replace him with, he will be confused.

As for relying on AI to identify and process, by the time AI finishes calculating, it will probably be too late.

The computing power of many on-board computers is simply insufficient and must be supplemented by the computing power of the control center. Data transmission takes time, and calculating a better strategy also takes time. It takes several seconds or even more than ten seconds to go back and forth.

But sometimes a traffic accident doesn’t even give you a few seconds, it happens in almost an instant.

Unless all cars can be forced to use only autonomous driving and be under the control of the same autonomous driving AI center, the safety of unmanned autonomous driving can be maximized.

The same is true for drones.

At present, it is impossible to realize unmanned drones, and these drones need to be remotely controlled by professionals.

As long as there is a person controlling the situation from behind, accidents are inevitable.

Although Jiang Miao is optimistic about the overhead crane system, he did not stop Fengmei Takeout from testing the delivery drone system.

After all, who can say what will happen in the future?

If one day AI performance is further improved and chip computing power is further enhanced, perhaps drones will be able to achieve true unmanned control.

As a large group, when investing in technology, the most taboo is to stick to one path until the end. A better strategy is to bet on long positions.

Only small companies like to gamble.

I want all the big groups.

Japan and Seris are a living example in the new energy industry.

Japan is like a small company. Their resources are only enough to support investment in one technology route, so they choose to bet on hydrogen energy.

Because of its large size, Seres chose to bet on long positions, while avoiding Japan's patent barriers in the field of hydrogen energy.

In the end, Japan was completely defeated.

(End of this chapter)