In auto racing, a fast start is great, but endurance wins the race. As things inevitably go wrong during the race, the teams who win are those that can analyze and interpret all the data the car is sending back from the car and the pit and then make the right decisions. The winning team is the one proactively anticipating problems before they occur – making real-time adjustments to tip the scales in their favor. E-commerce is much the same. Online retailers cannot afford to leave things to chance.

Anthony Foxx waits for the countdown, then hits the plunger. The catapult releases its bungee cord, slinging the drone from to a standstill to 50 mph in half a second. The drone spins up its twin propellers and flies a few hundred feet up, circling overhead. "That's amazing," Foxx says, as the UAV drops its package within a few feet of the practice delivery zone, then belly flops onto a brown landing pad that resembles the base of a jumping castle. During the closing months of his four-year run as US Secretary of Transportation, Foxx has come to California on a fact finding mission.