Shots Fired At Walmart Drones - Air Rights Owners Permission Needed To Unlock A $450 Billion Industry
Freedom Delivered By Adding Value To Low-Altitude Airspace
In property, the fundamental right beyond possession and ownership is the right to exclusive control, a right against trespassing, and the right to active utilization. Systems are needed to maintain these rights and to utilize air rights.
Walmart trespassed and a 72-year-old real estate owner is currently facing legal consequences after allegedly shooting down their delivery drone.
The two representatives from Walmart's drone delivery service, who were conducting mock deliveries over people’s property, say they heard a loud noise resembling a gunshot when the drone began its descent. One of them reported seeing a man, later identified as homeowner Mr Winn, holding a gun towards the sky at the drone that was invading private airspace. Mr Winn reported people flying an unidentified aerial vehicle above his head.
Upon inspecting the drone, the representatives discovered $2,500 worth of damage to its payload system. They subsequently alerted the authorities, who returned to the scene and apprehended Winn.
Walmart would appear to have trespassed into Mr Winns’ airspace and this requires damages as a remedy and a rental payment satisfies this. Although getting the exact GPS coordinates of where the drone was would be useful, in this case, no one other than Walmart was tracking the drone.
Local communities are now looking at ways to track drones so they can make sure that drones that utilize their air space can be tracked and charged.
There are ways to track drones and a free Android app that can picks up the signals up to 3 miles away is helping local communities and homeowners.
The problem is neither Mr Winn nor Walmart have taken any steps to prevent this situation. The lack of a system for a transaction to occur between Walmart and Mr Winn has led to a dangerous situation for the local community. Trespassing drones that no one is clear of their intention, worried and concerned homeowners and another blocker for mass adoption of drones is the route this is taking.
During questioning, Mr Winn admitted to shooting the drone, stating that he believed it was watching him as it flew over his home.
How can these drones get the permission they need, or in the case of real estate owners who don’t want the drones over their land the clarity the commercial drone operators need so they don’t continue to trespass on individual freedoms? Cross-referencing the location that the drones fly in with the owners of the air rights solves this.
Had Mr Winn gained some rental income from Walmart he would not have shot the trespassing drone. Had Mr Winn received rental income his air rights his property would have increased in value and he could have potentially sold his air rights for a capital gain, there is now a marketplace to do this.
Why Drones?
Why are Walmart and others so determined to have drones deliver packages at scale?
The simple reason is cost. The savings are large and because of that the benefits that will accrue to the landowners who allow the drones in their airspace are also high. This means there is no reason for any commercial drone operator to trespass if they have the system to get permission to be in that private air space.
According to ARK’s research, autonomous delivery revenues could scale to $900 billion in 2030. For this to happen infrastructure needs to be created. The permission for autonomous drones to be in private airspace is table stakes.
Drones Are Saving Lives In geographies without road infrastructure, Zipline drones can deliver blood in less than 15 minutes, improving the mortality associated with post-partum haemorrhages by 80% in parts of Africa. It has to be noted that this happens WITH the permission of the air rights holders in those countries. Why would the same drone companies when operating in the United States not believe private air rights owners need to give their permission? My generous view is it is because they have not had the ability to get that permission until now.
Counter Drone Technology
A world where drones are flying at scale delivering small packages to our homes and larger cargo drones from ports to warehouses will benefit society in multiple ways. Lowering costs to benefit the consumer is wonderful. Lowering costs and some of the savings going to the decentralized air rights owners who allow those drones in their airspace is a good way to bring communities into the ecosystem.
If the communities of real estate owners are not brought into the system the drone scaling problem will continue. More people will shoot drones and more drone companies will trespass. It will lead to communities employing counter-drone technology to jam the signals of the drones so they do not fly. These systems are mature and can detect and neutralize drones from miles around and can be installed on low cost devices. This is not a sensible way to operate.
The Unlock
For the potential of the drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry to be realised, we need to remember that property rights are not only important they are freedom and any attempt to subvert that freedom and those rights need to be guarded against. Using air rights will enable the drone and UAV industry to grow and meet its $450 billion promise. This benefits decentralized property owners through renting and selling air rights, it benefits society and it protects your freedom.
