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Amazon experimenting with delivery drones - Page 4

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RaiZ
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
2813 Posts
December 02 2013 18:40 GMT
#61
On December 02 2013 11:05 Sermokala wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2013 10:43 justiceknight wrote:
good stuff imo but i dunno how they gonna handle heavy rains and

+ Show Spoiler +
using guns to shoot them down lol

believe it or not its usually highly illegal to shoot your gun for no reason in america. If nothing else for the noise violations.

I'm not sure a lot of ppl care about it...
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde
andrewlt
Profile Joined August 2009
United States7702 Posts
December 02 2013 19:13 GMT
#62
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.
TheFish7
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
United States2824 Posts
December 02 2013 19:44 GMT
#63
On December 03 2013 04:13 andrewlt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.


Let's assume that range is not an issue, and that Amazon has a distribution warehouse in the middle of central park and every major city. You still have all of the engineering feats that would need to take place to program these drones to not only automatically navigate themselves to an address, but also avoid other drones and the occasional skyscraper along the way. Assuming that can be done through some clever AI, these drones still need to run on some type of energy source, which would need to be only marginally more expensive than current methods despite the immense diseconomies of scale involved in moving from truckloads to one 5 pound package at a time. These drones will need to be maintained, which will require technicians to be trained in the how. Guys who were stealing packages have now suddenly moved up to stealing drones. Amazon has special agreements with the USPS to deliver packages, if you're taking business from that now you're pissing off your vendors. The list of business requirements for a project like this is extremely long, even for a pilot program in a single city. 4-5 years is not feasible, and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Amazon's marketing team is incredibly clever.
~ ~ <°)))><~ ~ ~
Mysticesper
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1183 Posts
December 02 2013 19:53 GMT
#64
Stealing is the last thing I'm worried about.

These things will have cameras, GPS (probably multiple redundant systems), and other things... stealing them is pretty much painting a target on yourself.
NTTemplar
Profile Joined August 2011
609 Posts
December 02 2013 20:09 GMT
#65
On December 03 2013 04:44 TheFish7 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 04:13 andrewlt wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.


Let's assume that range is not an issue, and that Amazon has a distribution warehouse in the middle of central park and every major city. You still have all of the engineering feats that would need to take place to program these drones to not only automatically navigate themselves to an address, but also avoid other drones and the occasional skyscraper along the way. Assuming that can be done through some clever AI, these drones still need to run on some type of energy source, which would need to be only marginally more expensive than current methods despite the immense diseconomies of scale involved in moving from truckloads to one 5 pound package at a time. These drones will need to be maintained, which will require technicians to be trained in the how. Guys who were stealing packages have now suddenly moved up to stealing drones. Amazon has special agreements with the USPS to deliver packages, if you're taking business from that now you're pissing off your vendors. The list of business requirements for a project like this is extremely long, even for a pilot program in a single city. 4-5 years is not feasible, and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Amazon's marketing team is incredibly clever.


Navigating and avoiding things including thieves is just a matter of time programming, they alleready have the know how for all of that.

Also maintainance can pretty much be done on thousands by a single person so this won't prove a challenge.
Not knowing enough about making and coding drones I can't say if 4-5 years is feasible, I can only say my current understanding of it says that it is.

Only concern you have that I am not sure about other than the time is how effecient they are compared to the current methods, I can only assume they are an improvement based on their choice to go this route.
"Between Tomorrow's dream and yesterday's regret, is today's opportunity"
Too_MuchZerg
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Finland2818 Posts
December 02 2013 20:26 GMT
#66
On December 03 2013 04:44 TheFish7 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 04:13 andrewlt wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.


Let's assume that range is not an issue, and that Amazon has a distribution warehouse in the middle of central park and every major city. You still have all of the engineering feats that would need to take place to program these drones to not only automatically navigate themselves to an address, but also avoid other drones and the occasional skyscraper along the way. Assuming that can be done through some clever AI, these drones still need to run on some type of energy source, which would need to be only marginally more expensive than current methods despite the immense diseconomies of scale involved in moving from truckloads to one 5 pound package at a time. These drones will need to be maintained, which will require technicians to be trained in the how. Guys who were stealing packages have now suddenly moved up to stealing drones. Amazon has special agreements with the USPS to deliver packages, if you're taking business from that now you're pissing off your vendors. The list of business requirements for a project like this is extremely long, even for a pilot program in a single city. 4-5 years is not feasible, and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Amazon's marketing team is incredibly clever.


It seems these drones are for quick delivery only (30 mins) at least I get that kind of idea when watching that clip. I think some people are more than happy to get stuff very quickly and pay extra dollars for it.
OuchyDathurts
Profile Joined September 2010
United States4588 Posts
December 02 2013 20:32 GMT
#67
Even if its not much of an improvement cost wise between just sending something through your standard fedex/ups/usps having a 30 minute delivery time (or comparable very fast time) would probably hugely boost impulse buying which could make it worthwhile. If someone can get that PS4 game flown to them in 30 minutes instead of going to best buy to pick it up, or if someone can get some silly gadget before they have time to actually realize they don't actually need it it could drive a lot of sales they might not normally get there way. On top of that if they're able to use these 24 hours a day that'd be huge. I want a new video game, it's not on steam and no stores are open at 2am but I really want to play! Amazon to the rescue! That assumes there's someone there to fulfill the order obviously, but there should be no technical reason you couldn't have them flying in the middle of the night.
LiquidDota Staff
Yurie
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
12182 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-02 21:01:12
December 02 2013 21:01 GMT
#68
Just me that sees them having a camera as a requirement. I thought people disliked those on principle.

Second problem, seeing a difference between these and assassination/prank ones in the middle of city airspace.
OuchyDathurts
Profile Joined September 2010
United States4588 Posts
December 02 2013 21:10 GMT
#69
Would it need a camera though? It should be able to get where it wants to go through GPS coordinates. That would theoretically get it to the right house wouldn't it? You might need something like radar just to make sure it didn't get too close to a tree or something that it doesn't know about. But I'd figure there's more than one way to skin a cat. I don't know that it would need a camera recording everything if there are other options to get it to location and make sure it doesn't crash into stuff. I obviously don't know for sure though.
LiquidDota Staff
ElMeanYo
Profile Joined March 2011
United States1032 Posts
December 02 2013 21:18 GMT
#70
I wonder how these things will dodge power lines, trees, other aircraft, etc. How can you be sure they won't land on the customer's head once they get there?

Is someone remotely piloting them or are they automatic? So many questions.
“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
canikizu
Profile Joined September 2010
4860 Posts
December 02 2013 21:27 GMT
#71
1. Being chased by gangster.
2. Take out phone
3. Go to Amazon
4. Buy a gun and get it delivered by drone.
5. Continue running for 30 minutes.
6. Gun got delivered.
7. Profit.
GeneralStan
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States4789 Posts
December 02 2013 21:29 GMT
#72
On December 02 2013 14:09 OuchyDathurts wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2013 13:42 Musicus wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:33 OuchyDathurts wrote:
UPS can do a "Driver Release" where the driver releases the package either on site, preferably someplace hidden from view from street traffic, or a neighbor. Its mostly about not slowing the driver down so he can make as many stops as possible. They don't want you coming back with any packages if possible, and customers generally just want their shit, they don't want to have to wait an extra day for it.

Certain items can't be released. If its declared to be worth over X amount, if its a firearm or booze. Those things must be signed for by someone of age to be in possession of them. If a certain house/apartment/building has a few driver releases reported stolen that place will be black listed from being allowed to DR at because it's obviously not safe to just leave something there.

But between giving a driver as many stops as humanly possible, not wanting anything brought back to the warehouse, people wanting their stuff ASAP its VERY common practice to knock once and just DR the thing instantly and get back on your route. If you leave it somewhere odd you're supposed to leave a post it, which are scanned so they can confirm that a notice was left. If its undeliverable like they need a signature you get 3 chances for delivery and it's sent back to the place it came from. UPS can afford to just DR shit and hope the right person gets it, they might take some items on the chin sometimes if they get stolen but the fact that their driver's can just launch a box by the garage service door and GTFO means a more productivity, means more money so they don't really care.


Thanks for the explanation. So UPS just pays in the rare case something gets stolen, but it's nothing compared to the time and money they safe by DR. And then the house just gets black listed, smart.


Yup. They really milk their drivers, especially in holiday season. They deliver so much stuff its insane and your shift isn't over till you've delivered everything. They have an expected time average so they figure you should be able to knock out all your stops in 9 hours but sometimes that doesn't happen through no fault of the driver. They might send another driver who already finished his load to grab some stuff from you and help you finish up. But they track everything so if you're slacking off and running over time your ass is toast. They even have a "wall of shame" where they'll post the GPS route a driver took from stop A to stop B if it's a completely retarded route, like why did you drive around the block when you could have taken a U turn here and saved 30 seconds? Though its generally just for busting someone's balls about being an idiot, efficiency is everything. Granted if one driver has had the same route a while he's got it nailed down pretty good, knows where to leave stuff, knows who will sign for things, knows a certain client isn't even at his office on fridays so he can skip that one, etc. But they know how to run their drivers ragged and squeeze the maximum out of them.

Also some drivers that have a regular route will give their client's their cellphone number. If I deliver to your building everyday at 9AM and you're not there till 10AM every day you give me a call, I'll tell you to meet me at the McDonald's parking lot since I'll be passing through there in 5 minutes as part of my route and I'll just give you your packages there and you can throw them in your car.


Very interesting. It sounds like you have quite a bit of personal experience

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
OuchyDathurts
Profile Joined September 2010
United States4588 Posts
December 02 2013 21:29 GMT
#73
On December 03 2013 06:27 canikizu wrote:
1. Being chased by gangster.
2. Take out phone
3. Go to Amazon
4. Buy a gun and get it delivered by drone.
5. Continue running for 30 minutes.
6. Gun got delivered.
7. Profit.


Holy shit, you just broke life. I've never heard a better plan ever.
LiquidDota Staff
Toadesstern
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Germany16350 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-02 21:38:55
December 02 2013 21:33 GMT
#74
On December 03 2013 06:18 ElMeanYo wrote:
I wonder how these things will dodge power lines, trees, other aircraft, etc. How can you be sure they won't land on the customer's head once they get there?

Is someone remotely piloting them or are they automatic? So many questions.

Trees and power lines can be dodged with sufficiant altitude when your position isn't where you start or where you land I guess? Same can be said for bridges and stuff like that.
Skycrapers could possibly be made into a map on whatever coordinates those things but as long as you fly over streets that shouldn't even be required.
Avoiding other aircraft shouldn't be that probelmatic either. If you're talking about planes, they're not going to be flying that high. If you're talking about other amazon-drones it shouldn't be a problem to have some kind flight surveillance for those things alone, based on their GPS data I guess? Wouldn't be suprised if that'd be a necessity if you want to make something like that.

Where to land is a bit tricky I guess but having to register a GPS-spot where that stuff can land (as in, nothing like a tree is in the way if said drone is right above the spot and just lowers it's altitude) could be possible but probably a bit techy for most of their customers?
<Elem> >toad in charge of judging lewdness <Elem> how bad can it be <Elem> also wew, that is actually p lewd.
NTTemplar
Profile Joined August 2011
609 Posts
December 02 2013 21:36 GMT
#75
On December 03 2013 06:18 ElMeanYo wrote:
I wonder how these things will dodge power lines, trees, other aircraft, etc. How can you be sure they won't land on the customer's head once they get there?

Is someone remotely piloting them or are they automatic? So many questions.


they will be automatic, look up some videos of what drones can do and you will see dodging power lines, trees other aircrafts and customers will not be a problem.

A good video was posted in this very thread even.
"Between Tomorrow's dream and yesterday's regret, is today's opportunity"
killerdog
Profile Joined February 2010
Denmark6522 Posts
December 02 2013 21:47 GMT
#76
https://googledrive.com/host/0B6ep5zmvmqloTVRWUF95OFpCeTA/

Duck hunt with amazon drones.

I am entertained.
andrewlt
Profile Joined August 2009
United States7702 Posts
December 02 2013 22:17 GMT
#77
On December 03 2013 06:29 GeneralStan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2013 14:09 OuchyDathurts wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:42 Musicus wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:33 OuchyDathurts wrote:
UPS can do a "Driver Release" where the driver releases the package either on site, preferably someplace hidden from view from street traffic, or a neighbor. Its mostly about not slowing the driver down so he can make as many stops as possible. They don't want you coming back with any packages if possible, and customers generally just want their shit, they don't want to have to wait an extra day for it.

Certain items can't be released. If its declared to be worth over X amount, if its a firearm or booze. Those things must be signed for by someone of age to be in possession of them. If a certain house/apartment/building has a few driver releases reported stolen that place will be black listed from being allowed to DR at because it's obviously not safe to just leave something there.

But between giving a driver as many stops as humanly possible, not wanting anything brought back to the warehouse, people wanting their stuff ASAP its VERY common practice to knock once and just DR the thing instantly and get back on your route. If you leave it somewhere odd you're supposed to leave a post it, which are scanned so they can confirm that a notice was left. If its undeliverable like they need a signature you get 3 chances for delivery and it's sent back to the place it came from. UPS can afford to just DR shit and hope the right person gets it, they might take some items on the chin sometimes if they get stolen but the fact that their driver's can just launch a box by the garage service door and GTFO means a more productivity, means more money so they don't really care.


Thanks for the explanation. So UPS just pays in the rare case something gets stolen, but it's nothing compared to the time and money they safe by DR. And then the house just gets black listed, smart.


Yup. They really milk their drivers, especially in holiday season. They deliver so much stuff its insane and your shift isn't over till you've delivered everything. They have an expected time average so they figure you should be able to knock out all your stops in 9 hours but sometimes that doesn't happen through no fault of the driver. They might send another driver who already finished his load to grab some stuff from you and help you finish up. But they track everything so if you're slacking off and running over time your ass is toast. They even have a "wall of shame" where they'll post the GPS route a driver took from stop A to stop B if it's a completely retarded route, like why did you drive around the block when you could have taken a U turn here and saved 30 seconds? Though its generally just for busting someone's balls about being an idiot, efficiency is everything. Granted if one driver has had the same route a while he's got it nailed down pretty good, knows where to leave stuff, knows who will sign for things, knows a certain client isn't even at his office on fridays so he can skip that one, etc. But they know how to run their drivers ragged and squeeze the maximum out of them.

Also some drivers that have a regular route will give their client's their cellphone number. If I deliver to your building everyday at 9AM and you're not there till 10AM every day you give me a call, I'll tell you to meet me at the McDonald's parking lot since I'll be passing through there in 5 minutes as part of my route and I'll just give you your packages there and you can throw them in your car.


Very interesting. It sounds like you have quite a bit of personal experience



He probably does. I remember having a case study on UPS way back in business school. They had some examples of the way they engineer the efficiency out of their drivers but nothing this detailed. The drivers put up with it because they are paid well.
On_Slaught
Profile Joined August 2008
United States12190 Posts
December 02 2013 22:27 GMT
#78
On December 03 2013 04:13 andrewlt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.


Frankly it's MORE useful for people living in the middle of nowhere. There is almost no additional cost just driving them around in major cities since there is somebody you need to deliver to on every street corner anyways.

The real use and power of this technology is NOT getting it to the guy living downtown, but the guy living in the middle of nowhere. Why have a truck go 500 miles out of the way when a drone can do that in a fraction of the time? Once the drone technology gets better that will be the prime use (that is until drones do everything).
cekkmt
Profile Joined November 2010
United States352 Posts
December 02 2013 22:40 GMT
#79
On December 03 2013 03:40 RaiZ wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 02 2013 11:05 Sermokala wrote:
On December 02 2013 10:43 justiceknight wrote:
good stuff imo but i dunno how they gonna handle heavy rains and

+ Show Spoiler +
using guns to shoot them down lol

believe it or not its usually highly illegal to shoot your gun for no reason in america. If nothing else for the noise violations.

I'm not sure a lot of ppl care about it...

On the contrary I think many people here care if a random gunshot goes off in their neighborhood.
TheRabidDeer
Profile Blog Joined May 2003
United States3806 Posts
December 02 2013 23:06 GMT
#80
On December 03 2013 04:44 TheFish7 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 03 2013 04:13 andrewlt wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:09 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 03 2013 01:02 MCDayC wrote:
On December 03 2013 00:46 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 14:23 Pokebunny wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:16 TheFish7 wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:09 On_Slaught wrote:
On December 02 2013 13:02 TheFish7 wrote:
Amazon only has something like 30 fulfillment centers in the US. Even if they were to have this service available at all of them, that would leave the vast majority of households out of range. This idea only becomes viable if you can somehow increase the range of the drones without also increasing the cost of delivery.


Clearly says they have 96 in the OP.


That's only 960 miles out of the entire world

... I don't think you know how a radius works T_T


Does it really make a difference? The point is that this is all pie in the sky, perhaps literally, and conveniently spoon fed to media outlets the day before cyber-monday. This is nothing more than a marketing video.

well yes, the difference between 960 and over 30000 is at least noteworthy.


It really isn't though. That amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount of land area they'd need to cover to make this venture worthwhile. Discussing the mathematics of something that doesn't exist is equally inconsequential.


A 10-mile radius covers 314 sq miles.

New York - 302.6 sq miles
Los Angeles - 469 sq miles
London - 607 sq miles
Tokyo - 845 sq miles

They don't need to cover people living in the middle of nowhere.


Let's assume that range is not an issue, and that Amazon has a distribution warehouse in the middle of central park and every major city. You still have all of the engineering feats that would need to take place to program these drones to not only automatically navigate themselves to an address, but also avoid other drones and the occasional skyscraper along the way. Assuming that can be done through some clever AI, these drones still need to run on some type of energy source, which would need to be only marginally more expensive than current methods despite the immense diseconomies of scale involved in moving from truckloads to one 5 pound package at a time. These drones will need to be maintained, which will require technicians to be trained in the how. Guys who were stealing packages have now suddenly moved up to stealing drones. Amazon has special agreements with the USPS to deliver packages, if you're taking business from that now you're pissing off your vendors. The list of business requirements for a project like this is extremely long, even for a pilot program in a single city. 4-5 years is not feasible, and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that Amazon's marketing team is incredibly clever.

The engineering behind navigation isn't that hard. Google has had cars driving while surrounded with unpredictable moving objects for a long time now.... a static building is easy.

I am more curious about how it handles with weather and winds
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