Anyone that thinks a world filled with Amazon drones being a good thing is completely insane…
It’s a publicity stunt to get people talking about Amazon.
Obviously it’s working just as they intended. Think of what he said. This “amazing” drone can fly 15 miles. So basically they’ll need Amazon warehouses on every corner of every town to make this work. I’m sure that drone would work well in Buffalo in the winter when it’s snowing and 20 degrees outside.
One of my best friends lost a $3000 drone at Niagara falls last winter. Watched it drop from the sky on a cold winter morning when the falls were frozen over. He got too low and the mist iced it over. He was so heartbroken, lol.
I would get a bit teary eyed about that too. 3K is a lot to loose like that.
And?
This works well in a lot of cities that Amazon does business in they were to attempting to get rid of all human deliveries.
He was pretty low for a bit… for sure.
Here is NYC, a major market for Amazon, with a 15mi radius on it. Think of all the bike deliveries that they could eliminate.
Same thing for LA, Toronto, or even buffalo:
15mi via car is not at all the same as 15mi via air.
Actually, densely populated cities would not be ideal for this. There would likely be too tight of areas to land a drone that large, safely. Think about it from an engineering/tolerance standpoint. You’re going to want at least a 5 foot radius around the outside of the drone. The drone is already appearing to be ~3sqft. I don’t know of many porches in NYC that can accommodate that type of space. Given the space constraints, the best place to do this is actually in the suburbs.
Also, is the stated 15 mile range a round trip range? If so, then you’re 15 mile radius needs to actually be a 7.5 mile radius. Still significant.
I think people are not familiar with the fact Amazon does same day delivery in major cities.
Right, and when you have a lot of deliveries in a small area it makes more sense for a person in a truck to deliver it. Otherwise you end up with a drone flying back and forth to the same neighborhood all day long. Think about a quick example. Brooklyn, NY. Amazon probably gets hundreds of orders a day there. Might as well wait until late in the day and then deliver all of them at once via delivery truck. Probably only takes a few hours if you plan the routes efficiently.
With suburbs and longer driving times, the drone starts to make sense. Less orders and longer drive times make the drones a better resource.
This guy has become insufferable.
They will still offer same day and next day etc… This is the next evolution. This is 30 minutes or less. I am sure that you will pay out your ass to get it there but when you need something cost sometimes goes out the window.
In the industrial electrical world we have couriers non stop picking up parts or same day airing parts in to keep facilities up and running. Some plants run at 300K plus per hour on downtime. Amazon is making a big industrial push and this would be a huge positive for them.
didn’t seem like a huge range - but now that I’ve seen that 15mi radius map of buffalo, if i had a drone that had little doors that opened underneath, you all would find my dogs shit on your doorstep.
how cool would that be
Yeah, so that $10k drone can POSSIBLY deliver 10 packages in an 8 hour span assuming it flies at 5-10mph. Hub is in downtown Buffalo. First package goes out to Wheatfield, NY. Turns around and flies back (2-3 hours later, but who’s counting?). A human swaps battery packs and sends it back out to Hamburg for it’s second package. It gets back at noon, lol. Meanwhile at noon, every UPS, FedEx driver is on delivery number 100, and will do around 275-350 in a full day. That’s a boatload of drones!
Sounds efficient to me!
You do understand Amazon has a ton of engineering talent? They also have all the historical data from shipping/purchases and trending to make decisions that are worth it for the business.
You also think they can’t automate battery changes? Come on now :lol:
Why would any drone run 5-10mph? My $30 drone does 15-20+ and my $300 one does 40mph+
Ok, you think it is a real deal, and that the future is with drones, got it. I can’t wait to see how they deliver in the rain, wind, snow, blizzard, etc, etc. I’m sure those engineers will figure it out though! What could possibly go wrong?
Their actual, not simulated flight video shows it doing 56mph.
That’s impressive! How about when it snows?
Holy shit there is weather outside?
Have you considered calling their engineering team to explain this!!??!?!
I assume you’re negative about this because you work for UPS? This is largely for smaller items in more densely populated area how im sure 20-30 years down the line who knows?
$3K in loose change?