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How Amazon's Drone Deliveries Will Work (yahoo.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In a new interview, Amazon has revealed details of the drone delivery program they're building out. VP Paul Misener said, "Prime Air is a future delivery service that will get packages to customers within 30 minutes of them ordering it online at Amazon.com. The goals we've set for ourselves are: The range has to be over 10 miles. These things will weigh about 55 pounds each, but they'll be able to deliver parcels that weigh up to five pounds. It turns out that the vast majority of the things we sell at Amazon weigh less than five pounds." They haven't set pricing yet, but deliveries will follow the same protocols that trucks do now — if you're not home, it'll be left on your doorstep or in your yard. The company is developing different kinds of drones to service different climates. They also expect the regulatory issues to dissipate once they can demonstrate how safe the drones are. Amazon anticipates the vast majority of drone flying to be done between altitudes of 200ft and 400ft.
or here's a even better one, why not load the packages up on a truck which then gets distributed from a central hub like thing direct to your door along with other packages going to the same area?
I cant imagine what shithole you live in where a kid would see a fucking flying robot and instantly try to stone it
The standard distribution is good for overnight deliveries. But anything past that gets increasingly expensive.
A Hub, is designed to handle deliveries within a days travel, they will load up the trucks with a day's worth of goods. And the Driver will spend the full day driving to each location. Going to the Hub in the Morning and at the end of the shift with preferable an empty truck or filled with packages to be delivered elsewhere.
To give direct delivery from the Hub to your home, and back to the hub, would make delivery extremely expensive. The Drones (50 lbs), being electrical, flying, and automated makes it much cheaper to get an individual package from hub/warehouse to home. Then it would take for a Person (200lbs), a gasoline vehicle (1000+lbs) and driving to drop off you 5 lbs of goods.
Now the Current system isn't going to go away if you can fill up your truck then you can still be cheaper than a drone/per lbs of material shipped. But if you need it right away drone can be cheaper.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
There is no such thing as "zero risk" technology. It's a good thing safety zealots weren't around 100 years ago, otherwise we would have never developed automobiles or air travel.
You must not know very many pre-teen and teen-age boys...they are pretty destructive. I know I was; I almost burned my house down a few times, we would shoot each other with BB guns, make our own "melee weapons" our of random metal pieces and fight in the back yard, toilet paper / egg people's houses, and other assorted madness. If drones had been flying around we most certainly have taken shots at them.
Drones won't be slowed down by streets, traffic lights and traffic itself. It's going to be pretty much a straight line from start to finish.
We have multiple car companies announcing self-driving cars along regular human drivers within 5 to 10 years and you think Amazon's going to need people piloting drones that fly in the air?
It depends on the components required to build the drone. Also, I don't see UPS using scooters or used cars to make deliveries.
Cars can't really drive in bad weather either, they both have their limits. Cars when there's too much wind (up to a point)? Not a problem. Drones when the roads are icy? Not a problem.