You may have heard that a drone will eventually get your Amazon delivery.
The idea seems crazy and will definitely ask some questions.
Is it really possible?
What kind of obstacles will Amazon ceo encounter (
Owner of The Washington Post)
Must Jeffrey Bezos overcome?
How will his plan shape the future of drone technology?
Here are the answers to these and more.
The first thing.
What is Amazon's idea?
Amazon says it will send out a batch of drones in just five years to serve anything you order
Just under 5 pounds-in minutes. What? That's crazy.
How will this work?
Conveniently, Amazon has these huge distribution centers all over the country.
Most of the company's deliveries started with these facilities;
The drone will only cut off the truck driver who delivered the package today.
Jeff Bezos lost, didn't he?
You have to go wild thinking that drone delivery may play a role in future shipping. Amateurs —
And some companies-
They have proved very willing to accept the challenge.
So it's natural for Amazon to see opportunities here.
Okay, maybe he's not crazy.
But what opportunities are we talking about?
Traditional retailers compete on their products.
But Amazon is increasingly competitive in time.
Realize our wishes as close as possible in an instant.
Drone strategy promises to cut one of the current dronesor two-
30 minutes or even less shipping time.
Drones have an advantage over delivery trucks because they can use more direct routes without having to travel along the winding streets.
This saves time.
How much do we know about Amazon's drones?
Bezos told us the drone could carry five.
A pound load of about 10 miles.
It is not entirely clear whether Bezos wants the drone to return to the facility within half an hour, or whether he only calculates the time of outbound travel.
But experts estimate that,
A minute flight, then 15-
After taking off from the plane, the average speed of the plane is 40 miles per hour.
Very lively.
Can drones do this now?
It depends on what the drone researchers call an exchange.
Size, weight and power.
This is essentially a physical problem: the larger your payload, the more elevators you need.
The more elevators you need, the greater your battery will have to be, which further increases the weight, increases the power requirements, and so on.
After analyzing Amazon's promotional video, Christopher Vo-
Robot researcher at George Mason University
It is estimated that Amazon's "octocopter" drone may have used 10,000-mAh, 22-
Volt lithium-ion polymer battery consisting of 6 or 10 batteries.
These batteries are very similar to the ones that power the laptop, but their chemical reactions can generate greater energy consumption.
You can easily find these on amateur websites.
In fact, according to Vo, you can buy an octocopter similar to the one in Amazon video for about $24,000.
What about the larger payload?
5 pounds doesn't sound much.
This is possible, but it is not possible at least for now.
Some private drones can weigh up to a dozen pounds.
But in a "60 minute" interview on Sunday, Bezos admitted, "We will not ship kayaks or saw in this way.
"In fact, we may see faster progress in the way the company ships internally.
In most cases, large 747 and other cargo planes can already fly automatically.
From there, it's not too far to convert them into fully autonomous aircraft.
Bezos predicts the Amazon drone will take off within five years.
How realistic is this?
Optimistic but unrealistic.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said that while the current rules prohibit Amazon from launching the product todayto five-
This year's goal is to relax these regulations through FAA procedures.
Last month, the agency released a roadmap on how to rewrite the regulations.
By August, the FAA is expected to set rules for consumer drones and will follow the guidelines for commercial drones in a few years.
There are a few more things to consider: the US may not be the best place to test this project.
Given how long it will take for the FAA to relax its commercial drone policy, we may see Amazon first turn to other countries.
Lead a D. Timothy loytC. -
The Canadian drone enthusiasts group says Canada may be an attractive option.
"It's not far from here, but they are more tolerant," Reuter said . ".
Will these drones hit my dogs and kids?
At least at the beginning, the risk may be low.
But it's only because drones are likely to be controlled by humans.
What you really want to ask is a fully autonomous drone.
A big obstacle is the detection barrier.
Human pilots instinctively know to avoid trees and buildings. Drones don't.
To do this, they need something called feeling. and-
Avoid Technology
This is pretty good at the moment, but not good enough that we can trust the whole machine to fly exclusively.
Until then, Amazon may hire drone pilots to drive every drone.
It may then be upgraded to a system where a supervisor monitors a small number of machines at the same time from a control center.
Another way to solve this problemand-
Vo says avoiding the problem is reducing the number of variables that the drone has to deal with near the ground.
You can do this by building some sort of helipad on people's roofs so the drone doesn't have to interact with your doorstep.
Maybe this will even be the standard for most new homes so that other companies-
FedEx, UPS, etc. —
It can also be used.
Are you saying there will be cameras for these things? Yep.
Reuters said it raised a series of privacy concerns.
From video [Amazon]
"They only show this thing flying in open fields, not on anyone's head," Reuters said . ".
"Obviously, the security risks there are very low.
The reality is that if it would make sense, they would fly over many inhabited areas.
It makes sense in densely populated urban areas.
But from a security and privacy perspective, this is the hardest problem to crack. "(
The drone may also need to operate in bad weather, not only in the clear and clear sky shown in the company video. )Sounds creepy.
I don't want to be watched by Amazon drones. Wait here --
I'm getting a shotgun. Whoa, okay.
This actually points to other things that Amazon has to consider --
How to protect driverless cars.
You are not the only one who wants to take a picture of these things;
Residents of a small town in Colorado even considered issuing actual hunting permits for driverless vehicles.
You can tamper with onboard delivery equipment in a variety of other ways.
For years, the FAA has struggled with troublemakers who use lasers to shine the pilot's eyes at the control center.
What if someone tries to blind Amazon drone?
The next question is how to protect the data link between the Amazon drone and the ground control station that monitors the drone.
You don't want your courier hacked and stolen, or worse --
Became a flying weapon.
"Most of [
Ground control system
"Information in the consumer space is not encrypted," said Vo of George Mason.
"But even if they are encrypted, you can still refuse the service by radio interference and other similar activities. "Hang on.
Didn't Amazon just announce an agreement with the United States? S. Postal Service?
Won't these drones replace them?
This is possible.
But remember that there are still many years to come.
Amazon's experiments with drone technology suggest that it may just be part of a broader delivery system that sees drones as integrating multiple technologies.
Emerging technologies such as 3D printing and self-printing are also emerging.
This may help Amazon tighten any lag in its supply chain and deliver goods to consumers faster.