Showing posts with label drones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drones. Show all posts

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Who will be first to capture an Amazon package-delivery drone and other intriguing, drone-related questions


Check out the drone zoning illustrations on Jacob Kastrenakesget's post.

I live in the flight path of a small airport and am bothered from time to time by the noise of planes landing. The folks on the take-off side have a worse noise problem. A few years ago, a small plane crashed on a house while landing at the airport. There seem to be no restrictions on small aircraft flying over my neighborhood.

This post by Jacob Kastrenakesget raises all sorts of difficult and intriguing drone-regulation questions that will arise when they are ubiquitous:
  • Do we need 3-D "zoning" laws?
  • Do we need privacy laws?
  • How could privacy intrusions be detected and the laws enforced?
  • Will we have automated detection and identification of drones?
  • Will we have automated anti aircraft weapons?
  • Who will be responsible for damage caused by crashes?
  • Will there be design safety regulations for drones?
  • What about drone-jackers?
  • Who will be first to capture an Amazon package-delivery drone?



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Update 9/27/2014

DHL is also experimenting with drones for packet delivery.



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Update 1/21/2016

Amazon has released this new video on their delivery drones and David Pogue has conducted an interview of Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global public policy on their drone delivery plan.


















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Monday, December 02, 2013

Amazon photos -- yesterday, today and tomorrow

These photos are from coverage of Amazon by NPR and Sixty Minutes. They illustrate Amazon's policy of investing only in things that enhance the customer experience and create loyalty, the improved density and efficiency of their warehouse/fulfillment centers and experiments with 30-minute delivery of orders by autonomous drones.


1999 warehouse and fulfillment center

2013 warehouse and fulfillment center

Robots scurrying around with picked items

Amazon corporate office, 1999

Jeff Bezos' makeshift desk, 1999

Bezos' hopes for 30-minute delivery via drone in 4-5 years

A delivery drone prototype

Eight electric motors

Taking off from a fulfillment center

Autonomous flight

Landing, dropping package and leaving for home