Amazon Tests Unmanned Drones For Customer Deliveries

[engine]

Oh, what fun (not)!

I find the concept of packages moving about with these drones is quite scary. It opens up so many question in my mind as to the efficacy and safety of the project.

April 1 comes early!

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says.

The drones, called Octocopters, could deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg to customers within 30 minutes of them placing the order, he said.

However, he added that it could take up to five years for the service to start.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is yet to approve the use of unmanned drones for civilian purposes.

"I know this looks like science fiction, but it's not," Mr Bezos told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme.Amazon Tests Unmanned Drones For Customer Deliveries [bbc.co.uk]

[bwnbwn]

I read this my take they have smoked one to many. I can't see this working not based on it might work, but based on sure makes a good bomb delivery system.
Govt. in any county won't allow this type of delivery system. To easy to put one up and deliver a nice unexpected package.

Hmm how would this be tracked, really can't get high enough for radar. You can attach a GPS to it but launching one from any area is easy enough.

Won't happen until we have the technology to tract these flights.

Then again each drone if they stray off course could be deactivated and allow it to fall were it might. This won't work.

Then again it is controlled remotely and could be hacked and taken over.

[lawman]

I wonder if a cold chill went through the UPS and FedEx camps.

[bwnbwn]

lawman if anything it sent a wave of I feel more secure knowing they are looking at drone delivery.

Don't get me wrong in the future I see this at your door, a drone delivering the package.


But let's say in the next 10-30 years I see in the future.

>>>>>Looking in my crystal ball<<<<<<<

ecommerce public deliver drones----1000ft
Normal to and from work cities traffic----500ft depending on the structures in the area.
Commercial traffic-1500ft
Military traffic-- 2000ft and so forth

Just about everything is by air since it is the fastest mode of transport.

My Nanny grew up when mules pulled the load, then came along steam tractors, then gas engines, then rocket engines, then a man on the moon.

When she was a kid don't you think someone saying soon a man will walk on the moon, and looking around at the technology at the time say yea ya drunk a little to much mountain wine.

Part of the evolution of man. Moving things faster is our end game.

BTW does anybody here know what "Mountain Wine" is?

[lucy24]

Sounds to me like something that would only be cost-effective in densely populated areas ... i.e. the areas that are already well-served by existing delivery systems. Plus ça change et cetera.

[RhinoFish]

Google Glass will project a hologram of it, instant delivery!

Scent probe coming soon.

Hologram no good you say?

Well the hologram is just to keep you happy while you walk down your hallway to your 3-d printer...

(thought bubble... invest in 3-d printer ink...)

3-d printer ink won't need aircopters for delivery, it'll be plumbed to the house.

(thought bubble... learn to be a plumber...)

(though bubble... circle of life, you are so clever, inventing the internet to make being a plumber sexy again...)

[engine]

Not to be outdone by Amazon, Waterstones announces O.W.L.S book delivery. hehehe

"O.W.L.S. consists of a fleet of specially trained owls that, either working individually or as an adorable team, will be able to deliver your package within thirty minutes of you placing your order."

[engine]

Oh, and UPS is at it, too.

Sources familiar with the company’s plans say it has been testing and evaluating different approaches to drone delivery. Asked for a comment, a company spokesman said that, "The commercial use of drones is an interesting technology and we’ll continue to evaluate it. UPS invests more in technology than any other company in the delivery business, and we’re always planning for the future."

UPS researching its own delivery drones [theverge.com]

[londrum]

i think it will be well cool! it's like we're living in the future.

i don't like the idea of them dropping the packages on the lawn though.
it would be much better if they dropped the packages down your chimney, like father christmas does it. that's how he's been doing it for years and it works alright

[tbear]

ROTFL @ londrum...........

The Easter Bunny told me that Santa doesn't exist!

[lgn1]

And the hackers will use GPS spoofing, so they get your parcel instead.

[digitaltrends.com...]

[Brett_Tabke]

and now Google:
[nytimes.com...]

Google executives acknowledge that robotic vision is a “moonshot.” But it appears to be more realistic than Amazon’s proposed drone delivery service, which Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, revealed in a television interview the evening before one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

Over the last half-year, Google has quietly acquired seven technology companies in an effort to create a new generation of robots. And the engineer heading the effort is Andy Rubin, the man who built Google’s Android software into the world’s dominant force in smartphones.

[physics]

This is the same company that, this year, started saving money on prime shipping by sending things to me via USPS half the time instead of always using UPS or Fedex. So ... Fedex is too pricey, but drones are the future? I'll believe it when i see it (and I'll run).

[lawman]

I wanna see the cheerful FedEx delivery robot that was in I Robot.