Amazon to trial delivery-by-drone

[turbobloke]

Working with the UK gov't, air traffic control etc to get delivery times down to around 30 mins in some cases.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36887325

There must be a lot more to consider here e.g. range of the drones and Amazon's sites, drone misidentification (terrorism), hackability (terrorism and basic mischief) plus drone theft from the special domestic landing pads, though the latter would have a suspect on file at Amazon.

[Smollet]

An interesting idea but I'd have thought there are far too many logistical problems to overcome to make it really financially viable.

[glazbagun]

Yeah I can't see it working unless drones (or their cargo) become so cheap as to not be worth stealing.

[Digger]

This was in the news a few years ago. Only Amazon. Funny that.

Won't be happening in our lifetime.

[Zoon]

Not sure why, it's pretty pointless and inefficient.
Not to mention expensive per drop.

[steveo3002]

b.s story for a bit of advertising?

cant imagine those things fly well on a windy day , and what if it cracks someone in the face

[Disastrous]

Presumably if YODEL get involved with this, they'll just hover at 100M or whatever and simply drop your package into the neighbour's back garden? Bonus points if it has a mental dog waiting to tear it to shreds.

[Butter Face]

Disastrous said:

Presumably if YODEL get involved with this, they'll just hover at 100M or whatever and simply drop your package into the neighbour's back garden? Bonus points if it has a mental dog waiting to tear it to shreds.

And then the drone will smash through your velux and then fly off and they'll deny it

[glazbagun]

Disastrous said:

Presumably if YODEL get involved with this, they'll just hover at 100M or whatever and simply drop your package into the neighbour's back garden? Bonus points if it has a mental dog waiting to tear it to shreds.

They'll just fire it from a cannon at the depot.

[paulrockliffe]

I'd imagine that the best use initially would be something along the lines of a van gets driven to a village, the drones then deliver everything for the village in a few minutes, then the van goes to the next village while the drones charge. Like a swarm descending bringing goodies.

Maybe if the battery life works (no idea) the van could just carry on driving while drones leave and return ad-hoc.

[Disastrous]

paulrockliffe said:

I'd imagine that the best use initially would be something along the lines of a van gets driven to a village, the drones then deliver everything for the village in a few minutes, then the van goes to the next village while the drones charge. Like a swarm descending bringing goodies.

Maybe if the battery life works (no idea) the van could just carry on driving while drones leave and return ad-hoc.

That's actually quite sinister imagery for me. Gives me the creeps.

[Oakey]

[Roy Lime]

I'll bet sales of long-handled carp landing nets have rocketed in certain parts of the UK.

[Digga]

Well, they've tried delivering by grongo and that didn't work...

[iphonedyou]

glazbagun said:

They'll just fire it from a cannon at the depot.

[anonymous-user]

[Thankyou4calling]

Non story. Won't happen. Can't happen. Move on nothing to see here.

[kowalski655]

What would happen if it got attacked by an eagle on the way to your house?
On the drone pics thread GetCarter says he avoids flying his drone near them.

Or a magpie,those buggers will nick anything

[Camoradi]

[StottyEvo]

Thankyou4calling said:

Non story. Won't happen. Can't happen. Move on nothing to see here.

The technology is there, its certainly possible.