I’m sure that a hybrid multimodal delivery chain can bridge long distance gaps current cargo drones have. Hybrid delivery has the potential to provide substantial cost & time savings, especially in suburban areas.
Intermodal cargo transportation can overcome the road traffic based uncertainty of the delivery process. And it helps reducing pollution and emissions, especially in urban and suburban areas.
A study by Shushman Choudhury, Kiril Solovey, Mykel J. Kochenderfer, Marco Pavone at the Cornell University shows that using transit networks may increase both range and efficiency of drone delivery.