Amazon has a new vision for "Prime Air" delivery. Unmanned aircraft called "Octocopters" are expected to deliver the shipment within 30 minutes of placing the order.
According to the CEO Jeff Bezos they will Octocopters could carry lighter packs. But despite his enthusiasm for the project, he admits that it could be another 5 years before flying robots take over the skies. The US Federal Aviation Administration has not yet approved the use of US airspace for civilian drones. The debate is still ongoing and a decision on adjusting the rules is not expected until 2015. To deliver goods to homes, the robots would have to fly over densely populated areas and larger cities, which today's regulations prevent for the time being.
“It's not science fiction, even though it looks like it. According to our calculations, we can actually deliver the package in half an hour. The payload of the aircraft will be up to 2.3 kilograms, which covers 86% of our sales items" says Bezos. According to experts, it is not a problem in crowded airspace. The risk is the headlong collision of drones and crashing into unsuspecting passers-by. They also don't yet have a programming consciousness that would prevent them from bumping into people. In addition, there are many other areas that should be considered, such as the safety of the products themselves in transit. Since no one will protect them in the airspace during delivery, the theft of packages and even the planes themselves could quickly occur.
However, it gives the project "Amazon Prime Air" a nice insight into the future of delivery, where the service activity of the post office could be completely excluded.
