Getting High

QuiQui Testing Drone Delivery of Drugs to the Mission

Thanks to a court ruling against the Federal Aviation Administration, commercial operation of drone aircraft under 400 feet is, for now, legal. So startup QuiQui is already offering deliveries of drug store purchases 24 hours a day for current beta testers at $1 per delivery. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the fun stuff like cannabis, booze, and controlled substances, just shelf items like hemorrhoid creams and pregnancy tests. So while Shotwell’s Bar won’t be facing any competition for alcoholics, the bartenders will still have to handle some drug seeking behavior.

How does it work? Founder Joshua Zierieng explained to the Chronicle last week:

When a drone arrives at a delivery site, “your phone will buzz, saying your delivery is here,” Ziering said. “You go outside and swipe to tell it to drop your order. It will drop it and then fly away. I kind of want it to beep like Roadrunner and then fly.”

The plan is to offer deliveries in under fifteen minutes, but flight paths will be designed to avoid schools, parks and construction site fires, while inclement weather may ground the fleet at times as well according to the company’s press page.  So just as Tacocopter proved too good to be true, getting your doctor recommended dose of high-CBD strains delivered to you in Dolores Park from the Apothecarium is, for now, still just a pipe dream.

You can sign up to be a beta tester by submitting your email address. Naturally, the startup is seeking investment.

Comments (8)

This is really cool.  This is the positive side of living in the tech capital of the world

Yes, techies’ commitment to colonizing the Mission in such a way as to never have to leave their apartment in truly laudable.

Says the fucker who’s undoubtedly too principled to ever order a pizza by phone because he’s so strongly committed to being out amongst his community whenever possible, where he can lecture all that pass.

Easy, tiger!  I know you love toy robots, but you seem a little angry.

Are they doing prescriptions?  Because this sounds like a way for junkies to score free opiates.

Sounds like a way for junkies to score free drones, for that matter.

This is clearly a hoax of some sort. The founder, Joshua Ziering, refers to himself as a “Subversive Marketer” on his Twitter bio (https://twitter.com/joshuaziering). Also, from his LinkedIn: “Josh’s creative problem solving isn’t just limited to marketing and tech. He also enjoys ‘culture hacking’ those around him.”

This will never happen. Come on.