Amazon unveils hybrid drone prototype to make deliveries within 30 minutes

[inanna]

Source: The Guardian

Sunday 29 November 2015 21.01 GMT

Amazon has unveiled a new hybrid delivery drone that can fly both vertically, as a helicopter capable of landing in customers’ backyards, and horizontally like a conventional plane. The drone can travel up to 15 miles at high speed.

The online retail giant released a video on Sunday in which the prototype is introduced by the former BBC presenter Jeremy Clarkson. The film shows the unmanned aerial vehicle rising up from an Amazon warehouse, flying over pristine countryside, then landing on an Amazon logo placed on a customer’s lawn.

The hybrid is conceived as the prototype workhorse for Amazon Prime, the futuristic delivery service that aspires to carry purchases to customers within 30 minutes of an order.

<snip>

Earlier this year, at an unidentified location in Canada, the Guardian witnessed versions of the hybrid being tested. As a result of reluctance at the US regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow commercial drones to fly beyond line of sight, the drone delivery team, led by Gur Kimchi, had been forced to decamp across the border.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/29/amazon-unveils-hybrid-delivery-drone-prototype

[SoapBox]

1. Just my personal feeling...

stupid.

A gimmick for those with money.

[onehandle]

2. PR Stunt 2.0 from Walmart 2.0 nt

[YOHABLO]

3. So how big of a drone are we talking about here? Can it lift a 50" HDTV?

[The Blue Traveller]

4. That's it, I'm ordering a car from Amazon

I expect this thing here in 30 minutes or less, or it's free!

[chapdrum]

8. Heh - me like

[FLPanhandle]

5. Can it bring me a part for my boat if I'm broke down?

Because that would be cool.

[eggplant]

12. This would be ingenious. n/t

[LompocDem]

15. The possibilities for industrial applications of this technology are exciting.

Beyond rescuing stranded boat owners, the ability to deliver lifesaving goods quickly in scenarios where normal air ops are not an option because of availability or danger to a piloted aircraft should be explored. The fact that Amazon is trying to develop this service for profit is, IMO, inconsequential to the benefits to the public in the long run. I'm not an Amazon customer but I like this kind of innovative foresight.

[Journeyman]

6. Mine's an old neighborhood, lots of power lines, cable and telephone lines crisscross the sky. . .

I suspect a service like this is going to light up the neighborhood.

[chapdrum]

7. Convenience is King

So probably no chance that Amazon (and Google, et al.) will f*ck off.
But love that self-driving car; what a contribution.

[PADemD]

9. 2m Wedge-Tailed Eagle takes down Drone.

[2naSalit]

10. ...

I love that!

[2naSalit]

11. IF I were inclined

to buy anything from them... I wouldn't bet on that delivery system. Up where I am there are always wild, variable, strong winds.

So are these things supposed stay with you and you get to keep them or do they drop the stuff somewhere in the vicinity of you location and then return to whence they came? GPS doesn't work so good up here either so I wonder just how that could happen... of course I guess if it's up high enough it could have good triangulation but I tink it's going to be a bigger pain and cost than it's worth. Just use the USPS for heaven sake and stop trying to privatize everything.

[bikebloke]

17. Amazon can't even deliver using its own trucks.

If you live in a smaller building without a concierge or even entry codes they can't deliver. USPS and UPS will. Before Amazon started their own delivery, there were always Amazon boxes by the mailboxes or outside doors in my building. Now, none. I buy elsewhere.

[Proserpina]

13. What does Amazon sell that is so critical as to NEED 30 minute delivery?

Answer: nothing. Even diapers are not a 30 minute crisis item.

[JesterCS]

14. Toilet paper? Lol n/t

[packman]

16. Obviously said by a man who had no babies

after a pea and spinach dinner .

[2naSalit]

18. ...

[Proserpina]

22. Wrong sex, and any woman worth her salt can cope

After all, we've been coping for millennia...

[snooper2]

19. first thing to pop into mind

[Xithras]

20. Food

One aspect of drone deliveries that doesn't get discussed much is FOOD. Amazon would LOVE to get into fresh food sales, but it doesn't work with their current model. Even two-day delivery is too slow when you're talking lettuce and milk. Amazon Pantry already sells a LOT of food, but they can't sell anything fresh, and they can't do anything "last minute".

On the other hand: Imagine a service that let you pick a recipe on your Kindle app and click a "Send Me The Ingredients" button. 30 minutes later a box is dropped on your walkway containing everything you need to make it. Or better yet...the completed meal in a thermally insulated box ready to go straight onto the table.

Amazon isn't stupid. The drone services allow them to move into market segments their current delivery model excludes them from. Their new commercial shows someone buying a pair of shoes, and some sales of that type probably WILL happen, but the vast majority of things they deliver using drones will be items they don't even sell today.

[Mendocino]

21. Buy Blue

I don't use Amazon. I don't want any of my $s going to Bezos. See the pitchman in the ad, Jeremy Clarkson, another POS. No thanks.