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do you think this will fly?

I've seen a lot of changes that I would never have guessed would fly.. but they did. But honestly, I can see a lot of problems with both of the proposed deliveries. The first child that runs up to one and loses a digit or worse and it's grounded.
 
Not to mention the first time a drone drops a pizza or itself on a car and causes a crash (many ways this could happen - lack of power, drone on drone collision, rotor hits a Christmas decoration that's been added to the street, operator error...).

I can't see this one getting past the lawyers.
 
.. aren't drones banned in most jurisdictions anyway ..?

If they're not, it's only a matter of time: you can't take 110ml of liquids onto a flight but you can fly kilos of anything you like all over town? Not gonna happen.
 
I saw the 60-minutes interview as well. It may turn out to be a white elephant, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could make this work in suburban areas near major distribution centers. Atlanta or Newark come to mind where traffic is horrible and there are large expanses of single family developments.

I don't see how they can make this work in a metropolitan area with high rise apartments, unless there was some sort of "Amazon drop box" on the roof.
 
I think this is pretty cool. As long as surveillance sensors were prohibited from being installed I think most people would be OK with these. I imagine it may work like this: you sign up for an Amazon Prime Air subscription, and you get a drone beacon in the mail, which allows you to place it exactly where you want the package placed. The drone uses GPS to get to an approximate location, then uses the beacon along with proximity sensors to maneuver and place the package directly on top of the beacon.
 
The main problem I see is just the sheer number of these drones it would take. The amount of stuff Amazon delivers alone is staggering. Add pizza deliveries and whoever else wants to get in on this and there would just be swarms of drones everywhere. Terrorists would love to be able to have their own drones blending in with the masses. The regulations would be a nightmare.
 
How about Amazon pulling the wool over the eyes of the Media the day before cyber Monday and getting hours and hours of free advertising.;):rofl:
 
Hmm I think this will fly though.

single-brick.jpg

What do you guys think?
 
Stinky Stinky said:
Hmm I think this will fly though.

single-brick.jpg

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Only if you apply the Lockheed principle, "Given enough power, even a brick will fly."

I for one don't see drone delivery as a viable solution. The sheer number of drones would be a major annoyance in itself, with the constant bussing of them flying around. Not to mention having some animal attack them to get to the pizza being carried.
 
SiempreTuna said:
.. aren't drones banned in most jurisdictions anyway ..?

If they're not, it's only a matter of time: you can't take 110ml of liquids onto a flight but you can fly kilos of anything you like all over town? Not gonna happen.
Click to expand...

They are not certified for commercial use... yet. The FAA (in the US) is working on the language for allowing commercial use of unoccupied flying vehicles. I'll refrain from the term of "drone" as it's being broadly used as many of these "drones" thus far are actually remotely-controlled planes/helos for showing a proof of concept. As Bezos noted on 60-minutes, the FAA (in the US) is expected to allow this type of flight, within limitations.

Bezos also noted that there is still significant work to do on the automation side. Everything we saw on the show was likely done using a remote control, not done through automation. As for urban-area deliveries, they may be able to use algorithms to determine the best location for delivery to an address based on satellite imagery prior to the craft taking flight. Not sure exactly how that would be done but he has smart people working for him. Maybe they could do it based on a selection by the customer - "OK, you want air delivery, select on this image of your shipping address where you would like the package to be dropped" and then program the delivery based on those GPS coordinates.

As for concerns over landing where it shouldn't due to a lack of power, they have a pre-set radius, that radius is based on the capabilities of the craft. Unless the battery starts losing capacity (and it will) it shouldn't be an issue, and when it starts losing capacity they can earmark that unit for the short-hop deliveries (half distance) until it absolutely has to be replaced.
 
Lol. :D

I see a lot of potential of the idea in a way.

Very clever idea.

If the drones are done very well to handle all sorts of various weather issues and other stuffs then that will be just down right AWESOE.

:-D

Then everybody can get even fatter!

:-D
 
Stinky Stinky said:
Lol. :D

I see a lot of potential of the idea in a way.

Very clever idea.

If the drones are done very well to handle all sorts of various weather issues and other stuffs then that will be just down right AWESOME.

:-D

Then everybody can get even fatter!

:-D
Click to expand...

Okay, but if I wanted to order my own personal drone from Amazon how would they deliver it?
 
Everybody used to have tv antennas on their roof. I could see a day when everybody has a drone landing pad in their yard, driveway, roof of their building or whatever. Not just for Amazon, if they get it started everyone will be doing it. The landing pad could have a very precise GPS beacon built in. Maybe the postal service will get in on the act, and someday we'll all look back and say "can you believe we used to have people walk door to door and put paper envelopes in little boxes on our houses?" Cell phones haven't been around for THAT long, and now people can't imagine life without them. Who knows? Though I still say the sheer amount of drones that would be necessary seems to be the stumbling block.
 
I don't think it's going to cut it. They might do some area where pizza will get delivered to your table, but that's about it.
-Many states treat them as an illegal frying objects. I can't find an article right now, but there were issues when drones flew over Manhattan.
-Strong bursts of wind might cause a crash.
-Birds might cause a crash.

It's a cool concept, but I'm seeing it as everyday use in way too many states.
 
Gmash said:
Everybody used to have tv antennas on their roof. I could see a day when everybody has a drone landing pad in their yard, driveway, roof of their building or whatever. Not just for Amazon, if they get it started everyone will be doing it. The landing pad could have a very precise GPS beacon built in. Maybe the postal service will get in on the act, and someday we'll all look back and say "can you believe we used to have people walk door to door and put paper envelopes in little boxes on our houses?" Cell phones haven't been around for THAT long, and now people can't imagine life without them. Who knows? Though I still say the sheer amount of drones that would be necessary seems to be the stumbling block.
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TV antenna's and cell phones don't fly through the air being annoying. Then there is the malfunctions and collisions that can and would happen (there is no such thing as fail proof). If you think bird strike bringing down a plane was bad, just wait until there is ten times the number of drones flying around. Then there are the people that just wont put up with them buzzing around and take measures to put an end to it. I wouldn't want to see similar things like this happening.

Girl killed by remote control plane | Mail Online
 
I'm not saying I'm personally in favor of having drones flying all over the place, actually I'm against it. Besides being annoying it would put a lot of people out of work. But I also know that money equals influence, and Amazon can buy a lot of lobbyists and their pet politicians.
 
i wonder if anybody will be buying there phones and have it delivered by a drone? it should be small enough and should not way much.....i wonder if these types of delivery will be insured or something. what is to prevent anybody from stealing these drones and their merchandise.

it is a cool idea, but i'm not sure how safe it is or if this will work out in the real world.
 
unnamedny said:
I don't think it's going to cut it. They might do some area where pizza will get delivered to your table, but that's about it.
-Many states treat them as an illegal frying objects. I can't find an article right now, but there were issues when drones flew over Manhattan.
-Strong bursts of wind might cause a crash.
-Birds might cause a crash.

It's a cool concept, but I'm seeing it as everyday use in way too many states.
Click to expand...

Codegerm said:
TV antenna's and cell phones don't fly through the air being annoying. Then there is the malfunctions and collisions that can and would happen (there is no such thing as fail proof). If you think bird strike bringing down a plane was bad, just wait until there is ten times the number of drones flying around. Then there are the people that just wont put up with them buzzing around and take measures to put an end to it. I wouldn't want to see similar things like this happening.

Girl killed by remote control plane | Mail Online
Click to expand...
.

The FAA is already working on drafting rules regarding unmanned aircraft, which should address these concerns.
 
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