Amazon to deliver parcels using drones

[MicrosoftBob]

The whole point of drone delivery seems to be for super-quick fulfilment - Amazon mention 30 minutes. In that scenario they can quite happily make it a requirement that you are there to receive the parcel in person.

I can see it fraught with lots of other difficulties for delivering though, especially in an urban area:

• Positioning is a big issue. It has to know where relative to your house to land, and that information isn't on a map. You'd have to be able to give it absolutely pinpoint location information on a map somehow.
• Someone just nicking the thing - they must be worth a lot of money, these drones.
• Checking the right person collects the item (actually that's probably easy, it scans a barcode or something you provide)

I imagine a fairly decent AI is needed - unless the idea is a human operator flies the drone at least part of the time - that could drastically simplify the problems.

Don't postcodes cover a wider area outside of urban areas as well ?

[SueEllen]

Don't postcodes cover a wider area outside of urban areas as well ?

Yep.

In an urban area at least you know it's one side of part of a street or a block of flats.

In the country it could be a few miles.

[Platypus]

Just a publicity stunt.

Or the future, e.g. delivering medicines to remote parts of Australia, Africa

I think it could happen, but clearly not for 10-20 years

[Mich the Tester]

Or the future, e.g. delivering medicines to remote parts of Australia, Africa

I think it could happen, but clearly not for 10-20 years

That might be feasible much sooner than 10 years. Australian farmers are already studying the use of drones for surveying fields and big African farms will probably follow suit.

They're already using them in New Zealand;

http://www.3news.co.nz/Drone-helps-S...6/Default.aspx

[d000hg]

The tech works well but as I mentioned earlier autonomous flight is banned in the UK and unlikely to change. I know this cos I have a drone (a rather large fixed wing type), and in discussions with the CAA the rules are basically;

Pilot must be in control and in visual range at all times.
If flying first person via a cockpit camera a spotter must be present and the aircraft within visual range.
No flight over 400ft AGL

Just a publicity stunt.

You realise the UK isn't Amazon's biggest/only market?

And given that a few US states have made self-driving cars legal in recent years, I wouldn't be so certain drones mightn't be legalised in some places they're not allowed now. After all the military has spent decades investigating this kind of thing.

[Platypus]

Some intelligent commentary on this subject can be found here:

So why did Jeff Bezos pre-announce plans for drone-based delivery now? — Tech News and Analysis

[Cliphead]

You realise the UK isn't Amazon's biggest/only market?

I'm talking about the UK only and the rules as they apply here. Some US states are looking at banning or limiting drones and other countries will follow suit. Great for backyard stuff with a camera but all these things flying around a pre-programmed route using GPS is just asking for trouble.

My own kit can be pre-programmed to fly a route that could take it from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Stirling and back to my house maintaining 400ft AGL and avoiding built up areas and control zones, totally illegal though. All it takes is for one of these things to collide with an air ambulance or police helicopter and that just doesn't bear thinking about.

[NickFitz]

The tech works well but as I mentioned earlier autonomous flight is banned in the UK and unlikely to change.

Waterstones are fighting back with an alternative solution that won't fall foul of those regulations: Introducing O.W.L.S.: "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."

[MarillionFan]

Not sure it's a great fit for the UK but it's very cool.

Gave me an idea for a plan B... for only £100 you can order a pint to be flown directly to your hand.

That's what a wife is for.

[Wanderer]

So why did Jeff Bezos pre-announce plans for drone-based delivery now? — Tech News and Analysis

What, on "Cyber Monday" - the day when Amazon is doing big discounts in order to provoke a buying frenzy and shift the biggest number of orders ever? No idea.....