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Amazon Unveils Delivery By Drone
- codex 13y agoWill these be gas powered? I hope not, but I don't see any way to get the required energy density. Flying lawnmowers here we come.
- TimCinel 13y agoJust last week I was having what I thought was a fanciful conversation with a friend about exactly this. I'm amazed to see this materialise and very interested to see how the regulation process is handled.
- rottyguy 13y agoBezos, in the interview, intimated 2015 was the targeted year to get the regulations approved.
- Houshalter 13y agoCrazy ridiculous idea: have the copters attached to a cable or pole that it drags along the ground, or whatever is necessary so it isn't considered a flying vehicle. Or just fly it really close to the ground. Actually even just a UGV would be pretty useful.
- nyrina 13y agoI'll look forward to pulling that cable down and taking the contents of the packages
- Houshalter 13y agoAnd it will probably record it and call the police on you. That drones specifically will be targeted for crime is ridiculous. Do you steal packages left out in front of people's houses or mail? What about ATMs and vending machines that are full of cash and just left unattended? Crime will happen, sure, but it won't be that common and there are easy things that could be done to deter it.
- merryandrew 13y agoIf this ever actually happens, delivery theft will be rampant.
- trustfundbaby 13y agoHow do you figure?
- fiatmoney 13y agoLots of ways to knock out a drone out of the sky.
- evan_ 13y agoPresumably they'll have GPS and will phone home constantly- if someone shoots it down/hits it with a thrown ball/etc Amazon will probably send someone out to find it. If they find it mounted on someone's wall like a hunting trophy they'll call the police.
- im3w1l 13y agoShoot it down, take out the battery, put it in a faraday cage bag and sell it to the blackhat hardware modder. It ain't pretty but a few of those, and you can afford both food and mortage. You got to live off something, and jobs have been hard to come by since The Automatization. </story>
- evan_ 13y agoMaybe there's a camera live-streaming the flight, hell; within 10 miles of the warehouse maybe there's a guy in a tower with a pair of binoculars.
- crazytony 13y agostuff the package, I'm stealing the drone....
- programminggeek 13y agoI think it's fair to say that between self driving cars and self guided quadracopters, it is entirely possible to have a fully or nearly autonomous end-to-end logistics system in the next 10-15 years. A lot of the problems with longer distance quadracopters could be overcome with a self driving delivery van, similar to an aircraft carrier with fighter jets.
- steamboiler 13y agoDon't forget the robotic mules. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigDog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigDog
- cmapes 13y agoI think you're right. Then the next huge $bn+ company will be the ones who are able to solve the mathematical challenge of optimizing the symphony of orders, autonomous vehicles, drones, and hindering variables such as traffic and weather to maximize system throughput (and thereby profit) in near real-time. If there are multiple competitors and one figures this out better than the others, they will ultimately win.
- maxerickson 13y ago"How does the package get from the self driving car to your porch?"
- prawn 13y agoThe garbage truck does something similar with a mechanical arm...
- scarecrowbob 13y agoDrone?
- pekk 13y agoI don't really mind going out to the curb to pick up a package
- lostsock 13y agoA few months behind Australia, wonder who will be the first to actually start using it in production. http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/aussie-company-zookal-to-launch-drone-delivery-service/story-fnda1bsz-1226740011043 http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/aussie-company-zoo...
- yeukhon 13y agoFun thought: Hey! We now can get an owl to deliver to us our letters! (Harry Potter!) Serious thought: Nice. Though what safety precaution will be in place? How many can be fly at the same time? How exactly do we pick up this drone? What stops non-owner from picking up the delivery? What stops from someone detouring the drone to a different location? How does it know where to drop? How to drop? Some environment reader must be implemented in this robot.
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- ratsbane 13y agoRoof-mounted miniature helipad mailboxes, painted with QR codes. Really, why don't houses already have package receptacles for UPS and FedEx?
- prawn 13y agoI recently found myself looking at contemporary styled letter boxes, including some at $900ish that were quickly ruled out. It felt utterly stupid to be spending even $100 on something used to receive letters, all of which might be bills, advertising or invitations too formal to arrive by email. It's interesting that we aren't being pitched package boxes with one way delivery and security keypads, etc.
- jessriedel 13y agoThe lack of these in big cities is especially perplexing, since theft is a larger concern than in the suburbs. Why doesn't my apartment in NYC have a one-way drop box for delivery?
- electromagnetic 13y agoI don't get why either. Just have a drop box like in the old days when ice used to be delivered house to house into the icebox via a little locked door the iceman had the key too. Although with these, I don't see why window box style package drops wouldn't appear. All it would have to be is a rigid mesh frame so it's not affected by wind/rain/snow, which would also make it light weight so it could be constructed easily large enough for the mini helicopters to make drops into. Put the QR codes on a sticker that goes on the window like an alarm company sticker. I know the first response will be "that'll never happen", but it would allow package delivery any time, anywhere. Live on the 5th floor of a walk up? Your new game will be waiting right outside your window when you get home. I honestly imagine there would be high demand for this for courier services.
- CamperBob2 13y agoYay! Buy $8 DVD using stolen credit card, get free drone.
- prawn 13y agoPlus free tracking device leading investigators to your location.
- greyshi 13y ago*get free jail time
- pretense 13y agoConsidering the amount of money I pay in taxes, I wouldn't consider it free. More like return on investment.
- phaer 13y agoWhy not: Buy $8 DVD and a "free drone" using a stolen credit card? That works today and even from outside the us, right?
- baddox 13y agoYou mean the free drone that will be streaming video and telemetry to Amazon and will be nearly impossible to fence?
- andrewflnr 13y agoThis should be pretty awesome for returns, too. Ideally, I could actually trade my old item for the new with a drone.
- danenania 13y agoIf these get mass adoption, won't it make for highly congested skies in urban areas? Another question is would they be a threat to birds? The technology side is cool, but I don't relish the thought of looking out the window and seeing the air packed with delivery drones going to and fro.
- rok3 13y agoThey could be a threat to a lot of things. Small-scale collision detection is far from perfect. A system-wide software glitch could also cause quite a mess in a dense city. I think this could be cool but I would prefer my packages to be delivered by the Planet Express ship.
- gmisra 13y agoWorth re-posting here: http://www.suasnews.com/2013/11/25838/gimball-an-insect-like-crash-happy-flying-robot/ http://www.suasnews.com/2013/11/25838/gimball-an-insect-like...
- baddox 13y agoI think that's a misplaced concern. I'd rather have them in the skies than on the streets, competing with personal automobiles, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.
- bjg 13y agoAltering natura ecosystem further is more favorable than inconveniencing people while they go about their days?
- baddox 13y agoI was thinking more about the killing of people than the inconveniencing of them.
- Houshalter 13y agoYou don't think roads and cars alter natural ecosystems?
- founder4fun 13y agoFor me and many it seems file this under hard to believe! It begs me to wonder.... 1. Won't theft of packages run rampant or Amazon only will deploy drones to customers currently home? 2. Wouldn't the drones be subject to be shot or brought down? 3. Will this only fly in good weather? 4. The sky is going to be littered with these things flying around? 5. Will there be a service where you can rent a drone to spy on your mate? Divorce lawyers could sell it.
- mapmeld 13y agoOn (1), it's 30-minute delivery, so I assume you would only order while you were at home. On (5) for enough money you could probably already do this. Paparazzi photographers have already started using drones in the EU and US.
- alister 13y agoIf you recast these questions according to how deliveries work right now, I think you see that we already have all those problems and we manage to live with them: 1. Won't theft run rampant if UPS drops off your package at your door when you're not home? 2. Don't drivers of cars and trucks risk getting shot or stopped? 3. Will cars and trucks travel only in good weather? 4. The highways are going to be littered with cars and trucks driving around? Won't this lead to "traffic jams"? 5. Will there be a service where you can rent a car (or taxi) to spy on your mate? I'm not trying to be glib, but rephrasing the questions like this puts the issues in a new light. You can see the potential problems and solutions.
- baddox 13y agoAlso, it should be mentioned that the answer to those questions is that thousands of packages get stolen and thousands of people get killed every year in the current system, yet we still apparently find it acceptable. I find it hard to imagine this drone delivery paradigm being worse.
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- dylandrop 13y agoMy main concern is environmental impact. I'd be interested in an analysis of the effects of producing these drones + environmental cost of powering them + environmental cost of producing those yellow boxes vs. cost of delivery truck. Edit: Sincerely curious as to why this got voted down. Is environmental impact not a possible issue with this system?
- bepitulaz 13y agoWill it deliver across the world? xD
- dsrguru 13y agoThis is terrifying. If they successfully lobby to legalize commercial drones in low-flying airspace, the peaceful sky will be polluted with flying robots (we've destroyed the terrestrial environment already, seriously don't need to destroy the sky too), businesses would have access to terrifying surveillance, criminals/terrorists could remotely break into drones or fly their own disguised to look like commercial ones (and load them with cameras or weapons), etc. All so Amazon could be slightly faster than Instacart? FYI I'm not a luddite and I recognize the increased convenience that faster shipping would provide and the potential other gains that would come of commercial drones. But the tradeoff just doesn't seem worth it here at all.
- chaz 13y agoFlying drones would offset the number of cars and trucks that are roaming around our streets, highways, and bridge by putting them into the sky. Would it be better or worse to replace all of those cars that come in/out of a Wal-mart, Target, and Safeway with drones? I have no idea, but I'm excited to find out. Regarding your other concerns, there was an interesting episode of Freakonomics with Clay Shirky about the Internet, and how it gets regulated (or doesn't) by the fears of what it could do. A relevant exchange with the host starts here [1] at 20:08. The audio transcript is also available and Ctrl-F to "Let me ask you this kind of more." Shirky says: "... there’s a large class of problems that you don’t solve until you have them. Right? You hear all of the ethicists saying oh the technology is outrunning ethics, to which the pragmatist answer is that’s exactly what we want. If you and I were to sit down right now and say well let’s draw up regulations for time travel and telekinesis we would, it’s a ridiculous question." [1] http://freakonomics.com/2013/11/14/who-runs-the-internet-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ http://freakonomics.com/2013/11/14/who-runs-the-internet-a-n...
- twerquie 13y agoIt seems like such a massive optimization over the driver-and-gas-truck-around-town solution, that when I think more long-term, it just feels inevitable that this technology will be everywhere, even though I had the same reaction as you. "Terrifying".
- Houshalter 13y ago
- xelipe 13y agoThis means that the Mexican drug cartels might already be using drones to traffic illicit drugs across the border...
- Houshalter 13y agoI believe I heard they were, though I can't confirm that. It's only legitimate businesses that are affected by the drone ban, sadly.
- dghughes 13y agoI'd rather see pneumatic tubes deliver packages.
- e1l1 13y agoTarget practice!!!
- kiddz 13y agoI hate to think that my neighbor buying a hdmi cable means that my backyard will get a fly over by a camera enabled amazon drone. This does seem magical though.
- sebcat 13y ago1) drone failure causing damage to people or property 2) limited operational capabilities in regards to weather conditions. As someone who has flown ram air canopies in urban environments, I can tell you that 10mph winds of a building creates some interesting vortices. What's the air speed of a quad/octocopter-style drone? 3) shared airspace issues. These drones will probably fly pretty low (<1000ft?) and they will not be alone. There will be many drones in the air, from various manufacturers and companies. Imagine the ATC complexity in an environment like that. There's no system for that today. Solving problems like that would probably be very interesting.
- Skinney 13y ago> What's the air speed of a quad/octocopter-style drone? Well, is it an american or european swall, er, drone?
- jmadsen 13y agoI think this is fascinating, both for what the world will look like a few years down the road, as well as for all the questions that need to be answered. A few random thoughts: 1) "Safety questions" - drones won't fly drunk, or while texting, or putting on makeup, or...you get the point. We regularly engage in what is arguably the most dangerous activity on the planet without batting an eye or thinking we should clamp down on the number of barely-trained 16-yo's doing it, so I'm not going to be moved by the safety concerns on this one. If for no other reason than drones are expensive, and lawsuits more so, so you can expect a pretty good safety record 2) "Noise/environment concerns" - I was working in the SF Bay Area when 9/11 happened; it was weird to suddenly not have planes constantly taking off from 3 different airports. For a few days. It will be strange to have this things buzzing around the sky - for a few months. Then you'll stop looking up. I can't imaging them being worse than a leaf blower or a big diesel delivery truck. 3) "Airspace/regulations" - this part is fascinating to me. How do you avoid children's kites? Rival delivery drones? BB-guns? (I know that's what I'd be doing - a lucky shot to a rotor, and I'm the Hero Slayer of the 6th Grade). It is - literally (now that "literally" means anything you want it to, I can use it without fear) - a new frontier, with the same types of questions we're asking about Moon and Asteroid rights. I'm psyched we have these types of technical questions to deal with now. 4) "Surveillance/terrorists/et al" - whatever your concern - too late. Start this post thinking to just think about & list my response to each major point raised elsewhere; looks like I've come out pretty keen on this whole thing. Hello, future! Isaac Asimov, you almost made it.
- chrischen 13y agoDrone's may not have uniquely human problems, but they will have uniquely drone problems... plus, whatever advantages gained will simply mean drones will be pushed to their limit, until new uniquely drone problems are exposed. The only difference is that at this point the uniquely drone problems are new and not as well understood.
- jmadsen 13y agoNo, that wasn't my point - simply stating that any technology comes with its own issues, so dismissing a tech because it has issues is silly. We accept the perils of driving cars, we'll reach a point of acceptance with drones
- dharma1 13y agowe've been flying with drones with heavy payloads for a while now - http://londonhelicam.co.uk http://londonhelicam.co.uk The main thing is energy density - the batteries only allow for about 10-15 mins flight with a reasonable payload. Considering Amazon will have to do a roundtrip, this will not give them a very long range. The second thing is safety - we never fly above people. I don't think the authorities will allow Amazon to fly over populated areas until the tech is 100% safe, which it isn't yet. I think we're looking around the same time frame as with self driving electric cars becoming commonplace.. Many of the problems with battery life and safety are shared. Maybe 7 years?