Asked how his drone startup Airbound's aircraft compare in weight with Zipline's and Amazon's, the 21-year-old founder gives the main number behind his carbon-fiber bet. The competitor figures are his own recollection.
…can put like in like frankly a disgusting amount of stuff inside of each aircraft. And that's the thing, right? Like you can put I6 orders in there. You can use this to restock dark stores, restaurants, small warehouses, et cetera. Like it's viable for a lot more than just single package delivery.
Okay. And then one contention, I mean, well, I guess this is just math and metrics. I mean, Zipline and Amazon, they're just heavier machines than what you guys make. I forget off the top of my head. I mean, do you know the comparisons?
Yeah, so generally, generally sort of industry best is around for every kilogram of payload that you lift, you need about four to five kilograms of aircraft. I think Zipline's at about 5.8. Amazon is even higher. I think someone in the six to seven range. So, you know, vast majority of the weight is the aircraft there. What we've managed to do is we're lifting five kilos of payload with a three kilo aircraft, right? As compared to, you know, industry standard would be a like 25 to 30 kilogram aircraft.
Right. Okay. Okay. So, okay, both those companies have been at this for a very long time. I think beyond a decade. And, you know, I know Zipline takes a lot of pride in safety and some of this engineering they've put in, I think they would argue, is to get the thing down on the ground without…
Yeah, because I think what we have, you know, moving later is the benefit of foresight and the benefit of just being able to see how everything plays out. When a Zipline or an Amazon started, drone delivery, you know, was really a question of if, not when. Today it's a question of when, not if. And…
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