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Amazon Tests Delivery Drones At Secret Canada Site After US Frustration

Posted by Soulskill on from the building-the-national-dronehockey-league dept.

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from The Guardian: Amazon is testing its drone delivery service at a secret site in Canada, following repeated warnings by the e-commerce giant that it would go outside the U.S. to bypass what it sees as the U.S. federal government's lethargic approach to the new technology. The largest internet retailer in the world is keeping the location of its new test site closely guarded. What can be revealed is that the company's formidable team of roboticists, software engineers, aeronautics experts and pioneers in remote sensing – including a former NASA astronaut and the designer of the wingtip of the Boeing 787 – are now operating in British Columbia. The end goal is to utilize what Amazon sees as a slice of virgin airspace – above 200ft, where most buildings end, and below 500ft, where general aviation begins. Into that aerial slice the company plans to pour highly autonomous drones of less than 55lbs, flying through corridors 10 miles or longer at 50mph and carrying payloads of up to 5lbs that account for 86% of all the company's packages.

7 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Although unused, not useful by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The main problem (well, perhaps not the MAIN problem) I see is that no-one signed up to have drone flights right over their houses. You can buy and plan for where airports are going to be, but the "drone corridors" will just appear overhead one day. Drone sounds are (I think) especially obnoxious buzzing...

    It'll be interesting to see if communities try to ban this.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Although unused, not useful by occasional_dabbler · · Score: 3, Interesting
      55lbs at 50mph will kill a child or pet quite comfortably, and seriously injure an adult. There are places for autonomous drones: battlefields and the outback, delivering either information or medecine in places you couldn't otherwise get to.

      If this is a serious proposal it is just to scrape a few more tenths of a percent out of the delivery costs, or it's just a publicity stunt. Any drone flying in urban areas should be built and controled to military standards in order to be safe and THAT does not make it a cheap option

      --
      "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "we have a protractor"
    2. Re:Although unused, not useful by grimmjeeper · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've worked on a number of military projects in my career. Saying it "should be built and controlled to military standards" is a very low bar to clear. I would want it to be held to a much higher standard than that. Even civilian FAA standards are substantially higher than military standards.

  2. Re:Seems like this will work... by Kohath · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Except that doesn't make sense. Drones will have very limited range when carrying any package with significant weight. Rural areas are probably outside that range, unless the drones are big -- big enough to carry a package and a lot of fuel/energy. Big drones will be very expensive.

    Drone delivery makes the most sense when delivering items to boats offshore or to other recipients who are inaccessible by land. Aside from those specific cases, my guess is that drone delivery can never compete economically with truck or bicycle delivery.

  3. How is the delivery made? by frisket · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't get this. What happens when the drone arrives at my address? Does it ring the doorbell and wait? Does it go round the back and leave it on the back porch if I'm out? (I'm in a low-crime neighbourhood where this is possible.) Or will it leave it with my neighbour, as instructed?

  4. Re:Seems like this will work... by g0bshiTe · · Score: 4, Informative

    A friend of mine built one for a DARPA challenge his device is an octocopter capable of 20 lb payload and 10 mile round trip. It's diameter is just around 2 1/2 feet.

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  5. Re:Outrageous! by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Informative

    But testing? Perfectly legal right now.

    Sure, perfectly legal if you make all of your drone research team run out and get a pilot's license, and then file flight plans for every single test. You know, if you take a quadcopter out into the parking lot and hover it ten feet off the ground to test a delivery mechanism, you need an FAA licensed pilot and a filed flight plan for all 30 seconds that will take. Sounds like a really great environment in which to conduct thousands of man hours of testing, huh?

    And no, there is no provision in the FAA rules for Amazon to test a single flight where the vehicle goes out of line of site of the hands-on operator. The entire premise of what they're researching is prohibited, barring a waiver that they've only issued to an operator in rural Alaska inspecting pipelines while using existing, military-class equipment.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.