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Delivery by drones?; Amazon project
Topic Started: Dec 11 2013, 05:37 PM (238 Views)
yass
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'night owl'
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I'm not so sure I like the idea but looks like this is where things are headed regardless.


Amazon unveils futuristic plan: Delivery by drone

Amazon's secret R&D project aimed at delivering packages to your doorstep by "octocopter" mini-drones with a mere 30-minute delivery time

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had a big surprise for correspondent Charlie Rose this week. After their 60 Minutes interview, Bezos walked Rose into a mystery room at the Amazon offices and revealed a secret R&D project: “Octocopter” drones that will fly packages directly to your doorstep in 30 minutes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-unveils-futuristic-plan-delivery-by-drone/


Delivery By Drone? Amazon Says A New Era Looms

Bezos that Amazon's "octocopters" could be airborne within four to five years, using GPS coordinates to find customers. "These are effectively drones," Bezos says, "but there's no reason that they can't be used as delivery vehicles."

The drones would depart from the retailer's "fulfillment centers," the huge warehouses it has built near many large population centers in the U.S. and elsewhere. They can carry about 5 pounds, Bezos says, a figure that covers around 85 percent of Amazon's products.

"I know this looks like science fiction," Bezos tells Rose. "It's not."

The delivery drones would be particularly useful in densely populated urban areas, Bezos says. Powered by electricity, their current range of operation is around 10 miles from the point of origin.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/02/248170316/drone-delivery-amazon-says-a-new-era-looms


Apparently, Dominoes and UPS are also looking into delivery by drone.

Domino's tests drone pizza delivery

In perhaps the first bit of "technological research" to involve flying pepperoni, Domino's has developed a drone capable of delivering pizzas.

While the idea is likely just a PR stunt, a Domino's (DPZ) franchise in the United Kingdom posted a video on Monday of the unmanned "DomiCopter" actually delivering two pizzas in the company's signature Heatwave bags.

A spokesman for the Michigan-based pizza company confirmed that the concept is "the brainchild of our independent master franchise company in the U.K." The digital media company T and Biscuits partnered with drone firm AeroSight to bring the idea to life.

But don't expect two piping hot pizzas to be delivered to your door via drone anytime soon.

A similar idea called the TacoCopter -- an app that would dispatch a drone to deliver a taco to your door -- went viral last year, but the service is illegal under U.S. law. Federal Aviation Administration rules ban unmanned aircraft like drones from being used for commercial purposes. A DomiCopter in the United Kingdom seems just as unlikely.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/technology/innovation/dominos-pizza-drone/index.html


UPS Will Probably Beat Amazon To The Delivery-By-Drone Business

Not to be outdone by Amazon, UPS is researching potential drone use in its business as well, reports The Verge.

Believe it or not, it seems that the company stands a sizeable chance at beating Amazon to the delivery-by-drone punch. An Amazon teaser video showed a drone delivering an order to a family's house by landing near the door, releasing the package, and flying away, but it'll be quite a while before that scenario is ever realized. UPS's advantage is that its hypothetical drones don't have to go to your house to make delivery easier.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-delivery-drones-2013-12
Edited by yass, Dec 11 2013, 05:51 PM.
-Love will lead
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yass
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'night owl'
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In other drone news... I first got the wrong idea and thought this was about getting permits to hunt deer with drones and I thought it was a sick idea and it reminded me of Sarah Palin and the aerial hunts of wolves in Alaska, but after focusing and reading more thoroughly I see it is about shooting down drones.

Open season on drones? Town split over licenses to hunt unmanned aircraft

A town called Deer Trail, located an hour east of Denver, Colo., is considering issuing a novel kind of hunting permit. If passed, the town would give residents licenses to "kill" drones ... by shooting them out of the air.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/open-season-drones-town-split-over-licenses-hunt-unmanned-aircraft-6C10876014

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