Amazon planning delivery drones
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4369685.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/02/tech/i...ons/index.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir...rones-21067216

You've probably heard about this by now, but Amazon is working on the usage of drones to deliver packages more efficiently than via traditional ground travel in trucks. After reading those articles with details, what do you folks think?


I think it's possible, but there are a lot of potential problems.

• One I've heard a bit about is shooting them down. In some states, it's perfectly legal to shoot low-flying objects in the airspace above your property (obviously not commercial and military aircraft). The shooter could not only steal parts from the drone but could also steal your goods.
• Another problem is that the FAA has plenty of regulations prohibiting such drones from flying over homes, and it would probably be a nightmare to settle something like this with as few question marks as possible.
• Next, what happens if one breaks down and crashes? Depending on where it happens, it could be a catastrophe. Of course, delivery trucks aren't terribly reliable based on statistics of automobile accidents.
• In the same vein, what if one encounters an unforeseen anomaly, i.e. something it has not been programmed to deal with? They're probably going to be equipped with world-class evasion, mapping, and weather routines, but what if a critical component malfunctions or something stupid like a person holding a sheet of purple paper in front of the camera?
• What would happen to the postal services that currently cater to all of Amazon's deliveries?

The technology sounds amazing and futuristic, but Amazon requires a top-notch team to nail this idea.

I had to do a double-take when I first read about this the other day.

My reaction was one of disbelief, such as "Really? This is a thing now?" and "I never imagined this sort of technology this early in my life."

This is roughly my reaction, in video form:

I think this is stupid. Personally I think that things such as drones will make the already few job opportunities even less.

The only scary thing about this, is if one of these things flys up to your door and shoots you in the face! Imagine if someone did shoot one down and re-equips it with weapons to this to you.

Amazon just needs to wait for Congress (lol) to vote to make shooting down a drone a federal offense, because regardless of what it's used for there will always be a red neck trying to shoot one down until it's a federal offense.

When a truck breaks down in the middle of nowhere, nobody cares because the driver can just get out and call AAA or whichever organization specializes in dealing with trucks.

When a drone breaks down in the middle of nowhere, have fun tracking it down and seeing if you can possibly recover its cargo.

GPS works as long as there's a clear line of sight between the device and GPS satellites. A data connection just makes getting a "fix" easier.

Satellite communication is still more reliable than cellular communication, so the drone probably would have a better chance. Then again, I don't know much about on-board communication in delivery trucks.

They probably use some combination of satellite and wireless communication. I'd bet that it's probably a combination of GPS and a mobile data connection.

(You know, a mobile data connection can help a lot in getting the location of something. Coarse location data from triangulation and all that. Mobile data is pretty important for Assisted GPS since it pretty much means the GPS unit only has to try for satellites that are really there. You can get a GPS fix from "instantly" to 10 seconds, instead of 30-60 seconds. Also works better indoors.)

This is one of those problems that has a bunch of very positive positives and a bunch of very very negative negatives.

My reaction to this though was "Am I reading this correctly? Is this happening?"

I don't mean losing the drone, I mean going out in the middle of the woods to recover it. Or even better, the middle of the Atlantic.

Going off the rails would probably raise a lot of warning flags in the first place, but in that case, it's just a matter of whether you're able to reach it in the first place. Remember that it's near impossible to lose GPS tracking outdoors.

These are only being used within a 10 mile radius of the distribution warehouses so overseas and in the middle of nowhere forests are out of the question.

Well, that's a little reassuring. I suppose it's also, oh, a federal crime to tamper with peoples' mail, too, so that (might) take care of the other issue. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

This sounds too expensive for them to be risking on such excursions. If this works well then I suppose they'll move forward unto more areas. I know one day I plan to live in a nothing area of Arizona, but I have to say that having a drone fly something to my house would be a fun sight.