Amazon to test 'Drones' for delivery

man_at_milletts

I think this is a great use of modern technology, delivering goods via Drone using all the latest Blackhawk/GPS technology.
I can just imaging my book deliveries from now weing launched from a drone hovering somewhere behind Shooters Hill and rocket propelled to my front door in New Eltham.

Got to be more accurate than Royal Mail's attempts, shurely?

What do others think?

JohnBoyUK

Seriously?

man_at_milletts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology/

tangoflash

Instead of shoplifting, the local toe-rags will will all be armed with catapaults to pluck our goods out of the air.............

Huskaris

They already use drones, they are called Yodel.

LoOkOuT

Not so fast Bezos

bexleyaddick

tangoflash said:

Instead of shoplifting, the local toe-rags will will all be armed with catapaults to pluck our goods out of the air.............

Agreed, there'll be a sudden surge of hoodies taking up clay pigeon shooting for practise!

Lincsaddick

puts a whole new concept to santa dropping presents down the chimney .. the drone drops your new iPad through the garden shed roof, the targeting was only off by a metre or two .. watch out for collateral damage: your Guinness Book of Records plummeting into your neighbours' greenhouse or landing on his cat .. who remembers the UPS ads from a few years back .. the ones featuring the giant flying eagles ?

tangoflash

Wonder if my local dealer will adopt this?

Half ounce of lebonese and a large Dairy milk please...................

Joshuk87

Think they had something similar in Hicksville USA and the locals were using 12 gauge to shoot them down as they thought it was the government spying on them.

tangoflash

Joshuk87 said:

Think they had something similar in Hicksville USA and the locals were using 12 gauge to shoot them down as they thought it was the government spying on them.

Well, as it's currently illegal in the state for the civil use of these, they were probably right..........

RedMist

Ridiculous idea aint it, the aforementioned problems and what happens if there's lots in the air together? or the delivery place is inaccessible? wouldn't it be just as quick for someone to walk or drive with the delivery and knock on the door-now that's a good idea and could catch on...

tangoflash

RedMist said:

Ridiculous idea aint it, the aforementioned problems and what happens if there's lots in the air together? or the delivery place is inaccessible? wouldn't it be just as quick for someone to walk or drive with the delivery and knock on the door-now that's a good idea and could catch on...

Oh come on, when has the sensible option ever been best?............
;-)

EGAddick

RedMist said:

Ridiculous idea aint it, the aforementioned problems and what happens if there's lots in the air together? or the delivery place is inaccessible? wouldn't it be just as quick for someone to walk or drive with the delivery and knock on the door-now that's a good idea and could catch on...

Not really, the ones already in use by mountain rescue and mining companies are semi-autonomous and make their own decisions about how far to stay away from objects and routes to take to a destination. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility for Amazon to do this, you'd only think the distance from the distribution centre would be a problem. As far as the weight limit is concerned, there is nothing about how many drones could fly to your house, so combined items wouldn't be a problem. It certainly would beat the numbskull from DPD or Sainsburys home delivery and if it gets a few vans off the road then surely a positive?

55 countries already use drones for military purposes, but for civilian use there could be a lot of benefit. I'm not sure shopping is top on the list of priorities, but as above things like mountain rescue etc will become more and more prevalent.

cafctom

Its a fascinating idea if it ever takes off (excuse the pun).

Yes there are major obstacles to overcome with it, as Bezos has highlighted already - but I don't think people should jump to try and shoot down an innovative idea.

micks1950

man_at_milletts said:

I think this is a great use of modern technology, delivering goods via Drone using all the latest Blackhawk/GPS technology.
I can just imaging my book deliveries from now weing launched from a drone hovering somewhere behind Shooters Hill and rocket propelled to my front door in New Eltham.

Got to be more accurate than Royal Mail's attempts, shurely?

What do others think?

RedMist

it's certainly innovative, but how many people get rescued from a mountain an hour? and how many parcels get delivered per hour? and how many housing estates, telephone cables, power cables, other drones to avoid are there up a mountain?

I'm not against it, just think it's a bit too " we'll all be in flying cars" tomorrows world.

LoOkOuT

What's the minimum wage for a drone?

SaySomething

imagine a delivery for someone who lives in a block of flats, that's gonna take some working out to find the recipient's dwellings! perhaps it will buzz on their intercom as well??!!!

I wonder what the postal charge for 'prime air' is going to be? you buy goods that cost a tenner but it will cost you 5-10 times as much to deliver by drone? hmm, think I will stick to the super saver free delivery....

RedMist

It is only going to be for 'same day' local deliveries, so surely it's no better than giving it to someone to carry? novelty aspect aside... and LoOkOuT, it's probably whatever the tax man is expecting ;O)

Rylo

Yeah that's a great idea. Let the drones do the work and lay off another load of people...

ForeverAddickted

Rylo said:

Yeah that's a great idea. Let the drones do the work and lay off another load of people...

Agree with this comment... We cannot get to a stage where we are over reliant on Technology cos if it goes tits up we're screwed simple!!

Surely as well though wouldnt they be a danger to Airplanes taking off / landing (especially if it was an emergency)

Leroy Ambrose

You're all missing the point. For the above reasons (and a myriad of others) Amazon have absolutely no intention of going through with the idea. The story serves two purposes:

Firstly, it's PR fluff. Designed to take peoples' minds off the inevitable increase in late/missed deliveries in the run-up to Christmas, and get people talking about how cool and innovative they are

Secondly, it's designed to reinforce the image that the company is quite willing to ditch as many human staff as it possibly can, should the possibility that any of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles involved in such a harebrained scheme ever actually be overcome. Thus ensuring that their real corporate drones (the poor f***ers who work for them for bugger all) don't rock the boat.

LoOkOuT

Thirdly, they've had a lot of bad press about their labour practices. From the Guardian article:

Last week's Panorama investigation into Amazon's working and hiring practices, suggesting that the site's employees had an increased risk of mental illness, is the latest in a long line of pieces about the company's working conditions – zero-hour contracts, short breaks, and employees' every move tracked by internal systems.

BigRedEvil

Joshuk87 said:

Think they had something similar in Hicksville USA and the locals were using 12 gauge to shoot them down as they thought it was the government spying on them.

You could create a no fly zone above your house, if one flies over shoot it down and take the goods

smudge7946

This is how terminater started.

tangoflash

I'd like to see one of those drones deliver this.............

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beko-GNEV221APB-Fridge-Freezer-Dispenser/dp/B006ZL21VO/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1386033808&sr=8-7&keywords=fridge+freezer

fossdeneboy

You can be sure of one thing - they wont be flying a large cheque to the inland revenue !