The New York Times shows a huge Amazon drone flying over a driveway in suburban Texas. (Other URL here.) The drone drops a large brown package, which collapses to the ground.
But 10 years after Amazon revealed its drone program, drone delivery is only “sort of” a reality, according to the Times » argues – in a Texas town. “The project as it currently exists is so disappointing that Amazon can only keep the drones in the air by donating items.”
Years of work by top aviation scientists and specialists have produced a program that sends Listerine Fresh Mint Breathing Strips or a can of Campbell’s Chunky Minestrone with Italian Sausage – but not both at once – to customers as a gift….
Only one item can be delivered at a time. He can’t weigh more than five pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it 12 feet. Drones cannot fly when it is too hot, too windy or too rainy. You need to be home to turn off the landing target and make sure a porch pirate doesn’t run off with your item or drive it into the street… But your car can’t stay in the aisle. . Letting the drone land in the yard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees. Amazon has also warned its customers that drone delivery is not available during periods of high demand for drone delivery…
A more complex problem was getting the technology to the point where it would be safe not just most of the time, but all of the time. The first drone that lands on someone’s head or takes off while holding a cat sets the program back another decade, especially if it’s filmed.
Drones have also faced real-world problems such as heat waves in Texas. During a heatwave, the drones were suspended. And when they flew back, “a 54-year-old civil engineering professor at Texas A&M ordered a medication through the mail. By the time he picked up the package, the medication had melted.” One of Amazon’s customers tells Times that Amazon’s drones “feel more like a toy than anything else – a toy that wastes a huge amount of paper and cardboard.”
Amazon says that over the past 10 months its drones have delivered “hundreds” of items in Texas. Beyond that, Amazon recently announced that its drone deliveries would increase over the next 14 months, the Times points out – to Great Britain, Italy and a new location in the United States. “But even at the threshold of growth, a question remains. Now that drones finally exist in at least limited form, why did we think we needed them in the first place?”
