Ace-Garageguy Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) Jeff Bezos thinks he's gonna drop packages at your door with autonomous flying vehicles. No, that's not a miniature spy plane, it's just your neighbor's mail Last month, Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced that the company is exploring-and close to launching-small package delivery via drone technology. Amazon says it will be able to deliver 5-lb packages to your doorstep (or back yard, roof top) within a half-hour, all courtesy of an autonomous flying vehicle, or drone. Bezos says this technology could be available as soon as 2015. In our first edition of Editors on Topic, Design World's editorial staff discusses the viability of this technology. Will this become a new target for high-tech thieves? Will they become targets for sportsmen and children with slingshots? Will the drones have lasers to shoot back at these villains? Find out what the editors think. http://videos.designworldonline.com/video/Editors-On-Topic-Amazon-Prime-A Edited January 3, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy
ScaleDale Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 I saw something about surveillance drones in general on TV and noted that they don't seem to have markings that scream POLICE, so could I legally shoot the blasted thing down with something other than a firearm? Returning to topic... Will they leave stickers on the door? Will Siri ask for my signature? If so, can I use one of my Internet sigs? They sell engine blocks, are freight drones in the works? Dale
Harry P. Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 They covered this story on 60 Minutes recently. Bezos said it was still "years away." Can you imagine what would happen with thousands and thousands of drones flying around? How many would crash into each other? How many would break down halfway to their destination and drop your package into a lake or onto a busy expressway? How many would be vandalized as they dropped your package on your doorstep? A lot of unanswered questions...
Austin T Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 What if they go rouge and try and take down humanity!
Rob Hall Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) Seems like UPS and FedEx wouldn't like this. Though they are probably studying drone delivery themselves. Edited January 3, 2014 by Rob Hall
Joe Handley Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 Don't they have the FAA to deal with this on the matter still?
Danno Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 Don't they have the FAA to deal with this on the matter still? Not at the altitudes they would fly. No worse than kites, R/C planes, and potato guns.
FASTBACK340 Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 Great. Instead of worrying about my stuff tumbling off a high shelf in the truck or getting punted by a delivery primate, now it might get dropped from the sky……
Harry P. Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 What if they go rouge and try and take down humanity! You mean if the drones are cross dressers and wear makeup? Or do you mean if they go rogue?
martinfan5 Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 You mean if the drones are cross dressers and wear makeup? That would kind of funny if that happened
Greg Cullinan Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 You mean if the drones are cross dressers and wear makeup? Or do you mean if they go rogue? Either way sounds painful.
BKcustoms Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 I hope the drones don't come down too low to drop the packages. I could see my dogs trying to catch/attack one.
farmer1 Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 Drones are going to be a big reality in agriculture very soon, I know of some farmers and also seed and chemical suppliers will be using them for scouting purposes this season, one of my neighbors already has one, and they will be used for chemical applications in the very near future. But... out here in the wide open spaces is a whole lot different than delivering packages in urban areas !
Lunajammer Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 Don't they have the FAA to deal with this on the matter still? Not at the altitudes they would fly. No worse than kites, R/C planes, and potato guns. On the contrary, my understanding is the FAA is one of the obstacles. They are a safety agency and they don't delight in the idea of fallible, propeller driven machinery flying willy-nilly carrying containers over the heads of the general populace. These aren't your local hobbyists flying their R/Cs down by the motor park. I hate to be nay-sayer but I see epic fail on this. Even if the technology works, I could see it being derailed anytime they deliver near beer.
Joe Handley Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 (edited) Or shot down by some kid with a BB gun. I'd be more concerned with the paranoid nut with a real gun. I hope the drones don't come down too low to drop the packages. I could see my dogs trying to catch/attack one. Lol, I thought they were going to land, release the container, than return to home. Would be interesting to see how animals would react to those things, I've seen them do anything from run and hide, treat my trucks with indifference, try to kill a couple trucks (big farm dog, didn't like those funny sounding critters on his farm ), even had a collie type dog that I think was with a petting zoo try to herd one of my Jeep bodied crawlers over with the real Jeeps at a Jeep show a few years back, apparently it thought a "young" Jeep was wandering off from the pack Edited January 4, 2014 by Joe Handley
Joe Handley Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 Drones are going to be a big reality in agriculture very soon, I know of some farmers and also seed and chemical suppliers will be using them for scouting purposes this season, one of my neighbors already has one, and they will be used for chemical applications in the very near future. But... out here in the wide open spaces is a whole lot different than delivering packages in urban areas ! Funny you mentioned that, we had a farmer come in before Christmas to buy one of the Blade QX350 quad-copters to use on his farm. They're capable of carrying a GoPro Hero 3 camera and he is planning on using it to inspect his crops from the air once he learns how to fly it. I think it's a great idea, it'll be easier than walking the fields, less wear on the farm equipment (trucks, quads, SxS's, ect), and way cheaper than going up in the air yourself to visually inspect the fields from a plane or heli too! On the contrary, my understanding is the FAA is one of the obstacles. They are a safety agency and they don't delight in the idea of fallible, propeller driven machinery flying willy-nilly carrying containers over the heads of the general populace. These aren't your local hobbyists flying their R/Cs down by the motor park. I hate to be nay-sayer but I see epic fail on this. Even if the technology works, I could see it being derailed anytime they deliver near beer. I'm waiting for them to step in on park fliers and such already, especially in areas that have what could be considered high value targets (living or structural). It was never an issue until 5 years ago, but here in Chicago we will have no fly zones and such set up when ever the Obama's come back to the area from DC and that covers everything that can go airborn........minus any local General Lee clones, those seem to stay ground bound. That truely pisses off the r/c plane guys, sometimes venomously (won't repeat what the owner of a different HTU told me some customers have said, but it was insanely overboard!)
Guest Posted January 4, 2014 Posted January 4, 2014 Or shot down by some kid with a BB gun. You'll shoot your eye out!
charlie8575 Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Great. Instead of worrying about my stuff tumbling off a high shelf in the truck or getting punted by a delivery primate, now it might get dropped from the sky…… I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that had that thought cross their mind . Great concept, needs lots of work. Charlie Larkin
Agent G Posted January 11, 2014 Posted January 11, 2014 Nevada just got the contract for civilian drone research and development. Pilots start at $85k. We figure with all the military drone pilots in this state, there will be quite a few that won't re up and just stay here flying the civvie jobs. Looks like a lot more UFO reports will be coming in soon. G
bismarck Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 Good point. I can see it now..... waiting on my doorstep for my plastic just to watch it get shredded in midair, then get a "postage due" notice. :lol:
Joe Handley Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 Just had a customer tell me about this tonight, I guess these guys are local!
Pete J. Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) Actually the FAA owns the airspace from the surface to 10,000 within a 10 mile radius of a major airport and then at various altitudes outside of that area. There use to be a lot of uncontrolled airspace around but that just doesn't exist any more in populated areas where they are suggesting these might be used. There have already been a couple of reported near misses in the LA area. The FAA realizes that drones have a future in aviation and they are working on regulations to deal with it. I am certain that there will be some serious restrictions on commercial use. Frankly it scares the heck out of me to think of these things buzzing around in the same air space with private and commercial aircraft. A collision with even a smaller one could disable if not bring down an aircraft. After all aircraft are not like cars. Something goes wrong, you can just pull to the side of the road and call triple A. I think the other major issue is legal liability for one of these things crashing into something on the ground. They are a long way from being reliable, and sending hundreds of these things out with autonomous flight programs, something is quite likely to go wrong and you can buy a lot of trucks and drivers for the cost of a couple of law suits. No, I suspect that these things are really a very long way off. Nice thought but I think it was a publicity stunt. Edited February 19, 2014 by Pete J.
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