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Science & Technology

Amazon to launch drone delivery service

By T.K. Randall
December 2, 2013 · Comment icon 46 comments

The drones will be able to deliver a parcel directly to your door within minutes. Image Credit: Amazon
The online retail giant is testing a new delivery system that used unmanned drones to send parcels.
The drones, called Octocopters, would be capable of delivering parcels weighing up to 2.3kg within as little as 30 minutes of the order being placed, however there is still quite a long way to go before the service will be ready to launch.

"I know this looks like science fiction, but it's not," said Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. "We can do half-hour delivery... and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86% of the items that we deliver."
Officially branded Prime Air, the service could still be another five years away due to technological and legal hurdles. One of the challenges will be to get the US Federal Aviation Administration to approve the use of unmanned drones for civilian purposes.

"From a technology point of view, we'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place," Amazon said in a statement. "One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today."



Source: BBC News | Comments (46)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #37 Posted by Controller Junkie 10 years ago
Drone hunting, sounds fun. Plus the suprise of what your take is, it would be quite entertaining. Maybe you get a dvd, maybe an i-phone. Wh knows. This would totally become an entertaining underground sport. Drone hunting...
Comment icon #38 Posted by Controller Junkie 10 years ago
More likely this would be for like businessess and corporations with large campuses to send things around there corporate community. Ghere are too many unpredictable variables for this to ever be a reality Imho. But cool concept, worked as a P.R. stunt becaue guess what people are talking about? AMAZON....
Comment icon #39 Posted by coolguy 10 years ago
What if somebody shoots this down to steal the stuff
Comment icon #40 Posted by Frank Merton 10 years ago
What would happen when (inevitably) one of these devices crashes into someone's house, or clips its rotors on a cable and comes down in the street? I think Amazon's lawyers might have something to say about the question of liability. Probably under strict liability (which in almost all cases would apply) Amazon's lawyers would be out there at once writing checks. What if somebody shoots this down to steal the stuff They might shoot back.
Comment icon #41 Posted by Colonel Rhuairidh 10 years ago
Probably under strict liability (which in almost all cases would apply) Amazon's lawyers would be out there at once writing checks. Well, exactly. And any corporation is extremely risk-averse, and has literally armies of Health & Safety people who analyse every single thing in inscrutable detail to try to remove any risk at all of anyone suing them. So I very much doubt that they'd ever agree to something like this.
Comment icon #42 Posted by Frank Merton 10 years ago
Well, exactly. And any corporation is extremely risk-averse, and has literally armies of Health & Safety people who analyse every single thing in inscrutable detail to try to remove any risk at all of anyone suing them. So I very much doubt that they'd ever agree to something like this. I don't know; it would depend on how safe they could make them. Vehicles with their own right of way moving at slow speeds could in many areas still be an extremely efficient way to distribute purchases, especially if it included things like groceries, laundry, mail, etc. Even without their own right of way... [More]
Comment icon #43 Posted by The New Richard Nixon 10 years ago
We might see these things working on factories first
Comment icon #44 Posted by worryed 10 years ago
how much can it lift will it crash in a storm
Comment icon #45 Posted by Ryu 10 years ago
Seriously though, this concept isn't going to fly... Heh-heh-heh...funny. Love that pun you slipped in there.
Comment icon #46 Posted by Sir Smoke aLot 10 years ago
Nice project but what abour security? I would not get near this thing to get anything really its got blades.


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