Thoughtful analysis from MIT Technology Review that slices through the hype and paints a realistic picture of the limitations Amazon will face in bringing drones into service. In a nutshell, the article finds that the technology is feasible, assuming the FAA gets on board. But it will come at a pretty price, perhaps as high as $200 per package. For vitally important deliveries, such as a donor organ to save a life, the cost will certainly not be a deal-breaker.
Drone feasibility analysis
I love how almost every site I have visited in the last 24 hours have some article trying to tell Amazon the hurdles they will face with this drone project. I am rather confident that Bezo unveiling this means they did not start the project the day before the announcement.
I dare bet they been working on it at minimum for a year and are very aware of the roadblocks ahead.
I’ll bet they’ve been working on this fantastical bit of PR for awhile as well. Certainly useful to “pre-announce” vapor-delivery methods to washout any bad news that may have hit the waves right before then.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25034598
Birds. The MIT thing completely ignores birds, which are a far bigger threat than static obstacles. A powerline will not attack an intruder into what it sees as its nesting areas. Species of birds like mockingbirds et al will.
size is not a real factor here. I’ve seen a mating pair of mockingbirds drive off hawks, eagles, you name it. They work in tandem.
A drone, at least the quadricopter design, carrying cargo and with a limited power budget has about zero chance of avoiding something that is fast, as, if not more agile, and actively attacking it.
there’s also things that aren’t easily detected, like random balloons, etc.
But it is AWESOME PR.
the FAA has a manned team of flight controllers. what’s going to stop Amazon drones, Target drones, Walmart drones, etc, from hitting each other? automation of some sort, eh…we’ll see. what about other retailers and clogging our immediate space? FAA flights are well above homes and sight lines.
“Birds.”
Oh, pshaw. You think Bezos hasn’t already thought of this? The solution is obvious.
DRONES ARMED WITH FRICKIN LASERS.
you heard it here first….
“Matternet…found it cost only 20 to 70 cents to deliver a two-kilogram package 10 kilometers”
“…so the products would need to be worth a $100 to $200 delivery fee for a five-pound or so package.”
One of these things is not like the other, and the article skips or omits clarifying how you get from one figure to the next.
While a heart to save a life would be worth the cost there is no way it would ever be approved. If the drone hit some issue and fell out of the sky that is the end of that.
Not just anyone is allowed to carry that box for good reason and it will stay that way for a very very long time.