The very first time you launch this drone from the gas station, you do it yourself. After that, it happens automatically. In this case, you'll see a fire at the location where the raiders are on the global map. The timer can be seen in the list of tasks on the left side of the screen. If you cannot interact with the drone or with the owner of the gas station (and there is no timer in the list of tasks), it means that the drone has already found the target by itself. All you have to do is look for a zone with a small fire on the global map.

Meanwhile, until the drone finds the raider camp itself, you can launch it manually despite the timer, in exchange for coins!