Amazon reveals plans to deliver packages using autonomous drones

Shawn Knight

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Amazon was featured in a segment on CBS News' magazine program 60 Minutes on Sunday evening. Not wanting to miss a prime (no pun intended) advertising opportunity, CEO Jeff Bezos showed off a concept the company is working on known as Amazon Prime Air.

The futuristic service will employ octocopter “drones” to deliver packages up to five pounds in weight right to your doorstep. Each drone will be able to deliver a shipment within 10 miles of one of Amazon’s 96 fulfillment center which could have a huge impact in densely populated urban areas.

The company promises to deliver said packages within half an hour, all without the aid of a physical courier. The autonomous vehicles will fly to and from target addresses using pre-set GPS coordinates. If successful, it could allow Amazon to save money on their workforce and make the company even more environmentally friendly.

It’s a big undertaking and as you might expect, we won’t be seeing a fleet of Amazon drones take to the sky anytime soon. Bezos noted there is a lot of technical stuff to work out first in terms of redundancy, reliability and safety. After all, you don’t want a drone landing on someone’s head while they are walking around their neighborhood, he said.

Bezos didn’t give an exact timeline but suggested we could drones take flight within the next three to five years. That should give the company plenty of time to work with the FAA to make Amazon Prime Air a reality.

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Cool innovative idea but getting it into %100 working condition with almost no flaws will be struggle. I'm sure if they actually go through with this idea we'll hear hundreds of wild Amazon Prime Air stories where the octocopter gets grabbed and stolen, shot or thrown at, birds messing with it, weather affecting it, and etc.
 
Soon, this concept would be adopted by US military, so they just use drones to deliver a package of bomb to your doorstep
 
Amazon attaches a package to a drone, drone heads to destination. Enterprising criminal shoots drone, collects package. Customer never receives purchase and Amazon takes a loss.

Now, I'll concede that there are probably only one or two thugs in the entire country who could put a bullet on a target, let alone a moving target in the wind...But it could still happen.

Now, for the more practical thief, I present the Amazon Prime Drone Snatcher: http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mXG8iGWcuIsCMsXPWC_OQTQ.jpg
 
Attach anti-personel guns on drones. amazons takes over the world!!!!

Amazon attaches a package to a drone, drone heads to destination. Enterprising criminal shoots drone, collects package. Customer never receives purchase and Amazon takes a loss.

Now, I'll concede that there are probably only one or two thugs in the entire country who could put a bullet on a target, let alone a moving target in the wind...But it could still happen.

Now, for the more practical thief, I present the Amazon Prime Drone Snatcher: http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mXG8iGWcuIsCMsXPWC_OQTQ.jpg
 
Is it how they damaged their shipment of PS4's? Or it's a measure to prevent it from happening again?
 
The illegal Chinese will appreciate the idea, they now can get to US just like in movie Predators. Some splats along the way - who cares, you can't make an amlet...
 
Good luck ordering fragile stuff from Amazon now... ;) If it didn't fall in your backyard, must be on the neighbour's roof then :)

There, flies my delivery! Ops, right into the high-voltage lines, it ain't so pretty no more...
 
Texas rangers will love it also, to shoot down a few unexpected flying gifts for the family - niiiice.
 
This really doesn't seem feasible and seems like a way for Amazon to get some buzz before for the Holiday Season. How well does this work when weather plays a part? Is this really cheaper than standard delivery methods? (Costs to maintain drones and the insurance rates). Oops, drone injured an endangered species, which caused the package to deploy, which dropped on customers skull, meanwhile the drone now out of control crashed into a FedEx delivery truck, kicking off a major lawsuit.
 
I think a lot of us fail to realize how far we have come in the last 20 years, this idea is no longer out of reach because the tech is easily available to all. This can work and would be a cool idea to reduce costs and just be a fun thing in general. Heck I would order something just to see that thing deliver it.

To the people saying that someone is just going to "Shoot them down to steal the package"...Ok yea we may have some people attempt that, it would not surprise me, but this is probably going to be more wide spread in cities so shooting a gun in a major city would not be a smart thing to do and is technically illegal. If they did, im sure they have some sort of fail safe like cameras, GPS location, etc that would let them know exactly what happened and capture the culprit in action stealing the item.

Probably putting to much thought into this, but I think it would be a fun gimmick if nothing else.
 
Ut Oh Judgement day just got a like bit close, this is like a mini HK outta Terminator
 
I don't think theft would be an issue. I'd bet 90% of stuff in amazon boxes are worth much to the random person. Steal a box, get the Twilight Trilogy or a book on sewing. Not really worth the penalty for stealing.

We also shouldn't assume this is a bad idea because of all the obvious stuff they have to work around, like weather, wind, distance, birds, awnings, kids etc. They'll figure it out or they won't be sending drones out. People are scared of new tech, Amazon won't want to risk the PR fallout of a bunch of drones crashing around a city or losing people's stuff.
 
This truly is a terrible idea. As in the worst Amazon could have thought of. This will reduce jobs once again, while unemployment rises as result of this. Way to go multi-billion dollar industries for not seeing that the way of the future is making the problems at present worse.
 
Shooting a package out of the air? Yeah sure. Enjoy collecting the remains of whatever was supposed to be delivered. Small minds think this is too futuristic. Small minds think this isn't feasible. Something like this is going to eventually be made. The first people to make it happen will be called revolutionary. So while the small minds sit on their hands and say it won't work, amazon will have their R&D department problem solving and innovating. Its better then giving up before you even have a project to give up on.
 
Thank you Amazon for this comedic interlude. I enjoyed a good laugh.
 
Dumb idea plain and simple. Weather, *****s in the neighborhood trying to shoot them down, packages falling from drones, drones breaking midair, going to the wrong address due to error in coordinates, etc.

Really bad idea.
 
Dumb idea plain and simple. Weather, *****s in the neighborhood trying to shoot them down, packages falling from drones, drones breaking midair, going to the wrong address due to error in coordinates, etc.

Really bad idea.

Problems, meet problem solving. Problem solving, meet problems. Now you two go have some fun together.
 
going to the wrong address due to error in coordinates
Not if the drone delivers to GPS coordinates of a cellphone location. Even if you are moving the drone could always find you. Once delivered the GPS tracking code could be turned off or changed.

There are always options to avoid these errors. Mandatory GPS location for delivery in conjunction with the address could always help. Specifying altitude may also be a requirement for delivery.

In a city landscape each building would need to share a single drop off location. I could only imagine the roof would be used as the drop off location. A city landscape flying from building top to building top would also put the drone above the radar so to speak. Initially the local juveniles who would shoot down anything that flies for a notch on their belt, would be removed from the equation.

I don't see this used for delivering to a personal address anytime soon. I do see the system delivering to a shared drop off point, that is closely monitored 24/7. Once established the service may branch off to personal deliveries.
 
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