By Anusha Gupta
Gone are the days when only pizza could be delivered in half an hour. According to Jeff Bezos’ announcement on 60 seconds, the world can soon expect same day deliveries of the order they placed online. However, unlike Dominos or Pizza Hut, Amazon does not plan on delivering these packages using conventional modes of transport, rather, they are literally planning to map the sky.
Confused? Introducing Amazon drone service. That is right! Amazon research labs have come up with a unique and new system for increasing efficiency in delivery of packages. Amazon prime air is working on octocopters, which deliver the packages at the doorstep of the consumer. The drones are designed to carry weight of no more than 5 pounds. Although, the basic model is ready but Bezos believes that they are still a couple of years from actually implementing the idea in the real world, and still have to get the FAA’s approval. This certainly sounds like the technology for the future in an era where e-commerce is growing at an unprecedented rate and where people give preferences to home deliveries.
Amazon.com is said to be testing drones, which work within a range of about 10 miles, which Mr. Bezos noted, “could cover a significant portion of the population in urban areas. Following the announcement, Amazon’s stock rose by one per cent in pre-market trading after the Thanksgiving weekend. However, there is still a morass of logistical and legal issues that needed to be sorted out before the drone-delivery system can become completely operational.
The legal issues are majorly limited to the approval from FAA for the schedule, also because the US law currently does not permit the use of commercial drones. Logistical questions include how the drone would find a package’s intended recipient after flying to a particular GPS address; how the transfer of the package would be effected; and how theft or other disruptions — including the possibility that the drone may be shot down — would be avoided. Last but not the least, the effect of bad weather on the drones, is also being questioned.
While 2015 seems like an optimistic deadline, here’s hoping that we see drone advertisements on television soon enough, where the protagonist sings ” Tana nana ri, oh drone aaya ri”
