Following years of controversial discussions regarding the military application of Drones (unmanned aircrafts) in various conflicts across the globe, we will finally be seeing a different use of this highly sophisticated technology. It seems that Amazon, one of the world’s biggest retail companies, will be using drones as a package delivery system, starting with 2015.
This is astonishing news, that raises millions of questions. Basically, what Amazon aims to do is to use unmanned air vehicles to deliver ordered packages and parcels to customers. A small drone will pick up products from Amazon warehouses, and will deliver them straight to your doorstep. The planned release of this service is somewhere in 2015, depending on the upcoming changes in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, according to Amazon officials.
The services will be called Amazon Prime, and according to the retailer, it will take around 30 minutes from placing an order to actually receiving it. Check the link for more details and a FAQ, as well as the video below, showing how the process will work.
[embedvideo id=”98BIu9dpwHU” website=”youtube”]
With such extreme news, come very important questions. First of all, we can only begin to guess at what the price of this new delivery system will cost. We can only imagine it costing quite the amount, as Amazon will have to pay high insurance fees for the very expensive drones. Not to mention that drones or packages could be easily damaged or even stolen during drop-offs.
On the other hand, we have the question of package weight or size. It seems possible for a drone to deliver a light weight, small package, like a video game, but delivering a Playstation 4 console is a totally different matter. Also, we have to ask where these services will be available, as it seems unlikely (at least at launch) that this delivery system would be financially viable outside major urban hubs. Oh, and of course, this will only apply in the United States, of course, so if you’re dreaming of drones dropping off your favorite game in Europe, Asia, or Africa, you might want to hold off on those dreams for now.
Still, this is a revolutionary step. We can only pray that legislation will be passed, and the technology will be available for such civilian use. Amazon officials stated that they will be ready by the time these new sets of law (which will require years to polish and refine) will be applied, allowing them to actually use drones. What are your thoughts and what other issues do you see arising with this future service and technology?