Not sure if serious - Amazon Drones

Cosimo said:
Great idea but please don't let Yodel fly these things.
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:D

all those self employed DPD drivers could end up getting desk jobs, working from home - flying amazon drones :D

actually - they could probably outsource piloting delivery drones to India (assuming they're not completely autonomous to begin with - perhaps for 'health and safety' they have to have humans flying each one) - this would be awesome for all deliveries... phone call centre to order pizza, pizza manufactured at London pizza air station - automatic ovens, robots packing the things... just a couple of humans on the gate for security and a few maintenance guys... pizza loaded onto one of hundreds of drones flying into and out of the facility... some bloke in India, sat in a warehouse full of drone consoles/screens amongst other Indian drone pilots... flys the pizza to your home...
 
Presumably that little yellow box it seems to deliver it in will be password/pin protected as well.
 
robfosters said:
Intercepting is not a problem imo.

They would fly high enough well out of the range of conventional (legal) weapons. Even a trained sniper would have difficulty taking a fast moving drone out at great height.

The main obstacle for me is reliability. Crashing into other drones is not an issue as there is doubtless clever technology that protects against it. But reliability and the possibility of falling out of the sky is a worry. Also, surely in this day and age, there could be adequate security against it being sabotaged and brainwashed into becoming an Al Qaeda drone.

I would recommend an auto dispatching parachute in the event of failure, and a loud warning alarm as it is coming down to warn people in advance that they're about to get a drone on the head. If these obstacles are ironed out, I see no reason why they could not be a huge success.
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completely depends on the drone - the sort you'd use for deliveries aren't going to be that fast.... I really doubt those octocopter ones amazon are trialing fly all that high or particularly fast... not that someone shooting them down is really a big risk in the uk anyway tbh...
 
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Iamzod said:
I'll bet if it ever happens that it is mega expensive, even if the service aint that expensive to provide.

I could see these things taking out telephone lines & allsorts, imagine one crashing into traffic on the M1, carnage.
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Google has made fully automated cars which can detect dangers like this. The technology is not beyond our capability.

Dream bigger.
 
The possibilities of what these drones could deliver are endless. I think the first thing I would order would be a massively obvious PR story to distract from the bad press my company has been getting regarding the working conditions of it's UK staff.

I think one of these drones could deliver that pretty easily.
 
so these high powered crossbows you dont need license for....i wonder just how well they work as AA guns :D
 
Thompson_NCL said:
Google has made fully automated cars which can detect dangers like this. The technology is not beyond our capability.

Dream bigger.
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yeah and we still fire frozen chickens into jet engines cause we cant avoid birds, a flock of birds one fot hese drones could easily result in ground problems.
 
It'll definitely end in one of those situations, you get in from the pub, it's 3am, you order a pizza, sit on the sofa, fall asleep, don't get your pizza.

It'll be the same with this drone ****.
 
Thompson_NCL said:
They will be able to use multiple drones for the same cost as a human employee. The drones will be able to operate near enough 24/7 with hot-swappable batteries and will not be impacted by traffic or road conditions. It's going to have some advantage over couriers for sure.
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Bear in mind that the purchase cost to cover the amount of drones needed to cover the amount needed to ship would be quite high, also the maintenance, repair costs, flying costs (as I am guessing its not going to be your average "RC" set-up, IIRC you are not supposed to fly RC over a certain distance without some sort of special permission/license.

Things like liability insurance should one crash somewhere public, also I hazard a guess this will only be limited to their small packages, so they would still need to use a fleet of normal "on the ground" courier services anyway.
 
"Our drone called whilst you were out and dropped your parcel down your neighbour's chimney; please contact your neighbour immediately to ensure they do not light their fire..." :)
 
This cannot happen in the UK under current CAA regulations.

I'm a multicopter (drone) pilot and am studying to attain the BNUC-S certification in order to qualify for CAA permission to perform aerial work.
The CAA regulations state that you cannot operate beyond visual range, above 400ft (soon to increase to 1000ft if UAV weighs <3.5kg), in poor visibility or within 50M of properties or persons not under direct control of the operator.
Penalties for breaching these regulations are severe.

I can't see the regulations changing any time soon or the skies will become a free-for-all.
 
Tefal said:
yeah and we still fire frozen chickens into jet engines cause we cant avoid birds, a flock of birds one fot hese drones could easily result in ground problems.
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The difference is that these will not be flying at 200mph+, and birds are actually quite good at avoiding slow moving objects :p

Quadracopters can actually fly well with only 2 of the 4 motors running, as shown in the video I posted earlier.

Even quite significant damage would pose little risk to human beings. No more than relying on a driver who might have been out on the sauce the night before...

Rilot said:
This cannot happen in the UK under current CAA regulations.

I'm a multicopter (drone) pilot and am studying to attain the BNUC-S certification in order to qualify for CAA permission to perform aerial work.
The CAA regulations state that you cannot operate beyond visual range, above 400ft (soon to increase to 1000ft if UAV weighs <3.5kg), in poor visibility or within 50M of properties or persons not under direct control of the operator.
Penalties for breaching these regulations are severe.

I can't see the regulations changing any time soon or the skies will become a free-for-all.
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I think that the regulations will be forced to catch up to the technology. Remember, they used to make people walk infront of cars waving flags....

Legislation will be introduced, operating licenses issues, provided the guidlines are met for maintenance, resiliancy and control systems. Much like licenses are issued for driving a car, or operating aircraft.
 
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