Drone delivery is finally getting real in the USA
Plus a new video, a couple of car reviews, and some print stuff
Good morning, all, and a special welcome to all my new followers and subscribers over here. It's been stellar to watch the growth over just the past few months, and I'm very thankful to everyone who gives me a little bit of their inbox once a week or so.
This past week was a rare one without flights, which I'm thankful for, but that doesn't mean it didn't keep me busy. Quite to the contrary. Lots of good stuff to share in the coming weeks, but here's what's online (and in print!) from the past week.
Zipline is already big, but it's about to get huge
Delivery of things by drone directly to your house or business sounds like a wild future concept to most, but it's something that Zipline has been doing for very nearly a decade now. After close to 1.5 million successful deliveries elsewhere in the world, plus a choice few for early access Americans, it's finally becoming a reality for more.
The service officially launches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas this month after the company has spent that decade honing its tech and business model in the wilds of Africa and at a series of test centers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
I got a chance to visit one of those test centers a few weeks back, plus a tour of the company's Bay Area facilities. It all felt very grassroots in a lot of ways, but it's clearly a focused, well-orchestrated effort, and when I stood there and watched a drone make a beeline to me before hovering high above my head and slinging a package down on a tether, I was pretty astonished.
I'd seen videos of the tech for ages so I knew exactly what to expect, yet seeing it for real, especially in the blustery winds that day, was something else. This tech could really change retail, especially for folks like me who live out in the country a little bit. I can't wait for it to become available here.
Read the full story at Ars Tecnica
Me in print
It's always a treat to see my name in print, and this month I have two features exclusively available in magazine-form. The first is my monthly column in Car Graphic, Japan's leading car magazine. I explained the increasingly complicated Tesla situation in the Americas and why protests against the company are gaining steam.
In 000, a lovely Porsche-specific magazine, I have a feature on European cybersecurity product laws, and why they played a part in pulling a few models from the market there.
Sorry to say, both stories are only available on the printed page, but I hope you can find 'em out in the wild if you're so inclined.
Nissan's new Armada is pleasantly posh
Since its inception as a large, truck-based SUV with good performance towing and off-road, the Armada's been a practical choice. That's a polite way of saying it hasn't exactly excelled when it comes to creature comforts and luxury. That changes with this new model, which has received a huge injection of refinement.
It's so nice I reviewed it twice.
Read my review at JD Power
Subaru Forester Hybrid video
Finally this week, the video of my first drive of the new Subaru Forester is now live up on the Capital One YouTube channel. Really happy how this one came out. The production team I'm lucky to work with there is top-notch, and that I had a great time hustling Subaru's latest SUV through the hills didn't hurt either.
That's all from me. Before I sign off, another note about premium subscriptions, which I did enable last week. These semi-weekly check-ins of what I've been up to will remain free, but again I hope to start mixing in some bespoke reviews and analysis soon, exclusive for paying subscribers.
I wish I could set this up to be a sort of "pay what you want" model, but sadly, Substack doesn't allow that. Alas, my endless thanks to those who've already decided to upgrade to a monthly or annual tier. Your support means the world.
As for the week ahead, I'm headed to NASCAR country to check out a certain new EV in the coming days, and if everything goes according to plan there'll be a fair bit more to share in here next week. Stay tuned.
Oh, and stay warm. It's suddenly winter again around these parts!