The drones of Amazon
Fantasy? Soon-to-be reality?
Then again, you could just go to a nearby store if you need something that quickly.
Will people be tempted to shoot them down? How will Amazon avoid landing a drone on someone’s head? What about apartment-dwellers? Will the proliferation of drones lead to midair collisions?
Not to mention the fact that the guy in the video was waiting right at his door. How will the drone summon a homeowner who isn’t willing to hang out near the entrance?
Then there’s the competition, which has its own problems:
Obviously oriented to the Colorado cannabis trade, it’s a bong-based ‘high concept.’
I foresee ONE problem: the Greens will fault it for not recycling the tote.
It will inure the public to all-pervasive drone surveillance, though. So there’s that we can look up to.
You can go to the store which takes time and gas. Drone technology will almost certainly include drone-to-drone communication to prevent collisions and proximity detectors. Maybe people will make fenced in landing areas for package deliveries.
Nice little glitch in the last guys’ system.
I’m not too impressed by the Amazon drone idea. First of all, some things I order are from other companies that sell through Amazon. They wouldn’t have acces to the drones. Second, they are talking about this working in big cities, where stealing drone packages would probably soon replace the knockout game. This would just cater to the well off in certain areas who don’t want to mix with the hoi poloi when they need milk. Whole Foods would probably become Amazon’s biggest partner.
And…. if you don’t pay your bill Amazon sends out the drone with the hellfire missile.
Unless you use your food stamp cards to pay your bill-
Gee, Neo did more advance planning for Amazon in two minutes than the White House did for healthcare.gov in three and half years.
Can’t wait to see one of those babies try to delivery my package in a typical Nor’easter to my house with the many 60-70 foot trees surrounding it all moving in a 40 knot wind with snow and sleet .
Heh. Cute.
“Will people be tempted to shoot them down? How will Amazon avoid landing a drone on someone’s head? What about apartment-dwellers? Will the proliferation of drones lead to midair collisions?
Not to mention the fact that the guy in the video was waiting right at his door. How will the drone summon a homeowner who isn’t willing to hang out near the entrance?”
All good questions. But, when all is said and done, I’d be willing to bet that Amazon’s drones will work better, be more reliable, and deliver more than Obamacare. In the very least I won’t be “forced” to use Amazon’s drones.
No doubt there are drones in our future.
Won’t be too long before we’ll be advertised at by drones with distracted drivers looking up… eeeek!, accidents waiting to happen.
Then there’s the guy running late to work, who orders breakfast to go-delivered by a drone. Makes one want to get the sunroof next time.
Note that in the video the guy pushed a button that said “Prime Air 30 Minute Delivery”. That’s about the same time as a round trip to your local store.
So? That’s no different than a UPS driver leaving a package on your porch while you’re at work.
And I guess you’re more likely to hang out by your front door if you know that your package will arrive 30 minutes after you order it.
The Prime services is SURE to be linked to smart phones — by an app.
In which case, you’d be notified – -by a tracking app — that the drone is landing.
Smart homes will be pervasive in five years. Retrofitting is now a snap because of wireless — everythings.
2013 technology versus a kid’s slingshot.
Btw. those tracking apps will also have a backdoor which lets military drones know where to send the missiles. In the far, far, future.
This is crap.
The energy source to do all this doesn’t exist. And by that, I mean “do it economically.”
Hell, I’m still waiting for my flying cars and personal jetpack that were promised me in the 1960s.
Imagine one these coming to land on some city building and spooking about 1000 pigeons into the air. Splat.