we've been flying with drones (mainly octos) with heavy payloads for a while now - http://londonhelicam.co.uk http://londonhelicam.co.uk . RED Epics, Phantom hi

we've been flying with drones (mainly octos) with heavy payloads for a while now - http://londonhelicam.co.uk http://londonhelicam.co.uk . RED Epics, Phantom high speed cameras, a lot of expensive and heavy cameras. The main thing is energy density - the current gen LiPo 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 around 7 years?