Amazon's concept of deliveries made by drones, aka Prime Air, was revealed two years ago by the company's CEO Jeff Bezos. More precisely, the idea is to enable a delivery within 30 minutes, anywhere. The fastest way being by air, a small, autonomous yet secure mode of transportation is required. That's were the multirotor Miniature Unmanned Air Vehicle, also known as Miniature UAV, or drone, becomes the key factor. Of course the orders will have to fulfil some conditions to be drone-eligible. The package can't be heavier than 5 pounds, it has to fit in the drone's compartment and the delivery location has to be within a 10 miles radius of an Amazon distribution center. Also, any drone won't do, it has to be specially designed for this purpose.
In March this year, Amazon was granted with permission to build and test a prototype in the US by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), as long as some rules were followed, such as limited speed (100 mph) and altitude (400 ft). The last of these Amazon Prime Air drones prototypes has just been unveiled, along with a commercial (below). On a dedicated article, Amazon explains that safety is its main concern and that Air Prime won't be launched until they "are able to demonstrate safe operations". We must admit, it's going to be quite interesting to see flying parcels all over the world... Sci fi is just a drone away.
Photo: Amazon.com
News in the same category
Operational phase has begun for LinkNYC project: its first two free Wi-Fi hotspots have been unveiled last week. 7,500 more should be installed within the next twelve years.
Apple has 506 retail stores across 24 countries with 272 of those stores in the United States. These stores are beautiful and expertly crafted as Apple’s own products.
Adidas introduced a revolutionary swimsuit last month in Germany. According to them, the Adizero XVI swimsuit is the fastest ever.
This may be a first. If other companies already played the entertainment card before, General Electric is fully associated with the National Geographic Channel to produce a whole new TV series, based on the conglomerate's science and technology expertise.
