14 DAY TRIAL // A few months ago, the world did not know whether to believe Jeff Bezos or to laugh at him when he announced that Amazon’s five-year plan included delivery drones for close proximity orders.
In a letter he sent to investors, Bezos has just confirmed the drones again, saying that the company is already working on its seventh and eight generation Prime drones. Not only is Amazon completely serious about this new delivery system, but it hopes to be up and running as soon as next year.
“The Prime Air team is already flight testing our fifth and sixth generation aerial vehicles, and we are in the design phase on generations 7 and 8,” Bezos said.
This comes a bit as a surprise since people didn’t really believe Amazon was 100 percent serious about this idea.
If Bezos’ wish comes true, the octocopters will be delivering small parcels well before the five-year timeline originally mentioned some months ago. Of course, while this also comes from a desire to beat any opponents, in some cases, Amazon actually needs alternative delivery methods.
For instance, in India and China, where the delivery infrastructure isn’t yet mature, couriers deliver packets by bike.
The company’s plans for air delivery could end if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) doesn’t set down favorable rules for drone usage. Amazon hopes that this will happen as early as 2015, but things could take longer.
The FAA has been quite cautious about this topic because the devices are tricky and could end up hijacked. Of course, Amazon’s could end up being secure. However, previous incidents, including one in Australia where a drone caused an accident that led to the hospitalization of an athlete during a sporting event, indicate that there's a high risk.
The drone dropped from the sky after it was hacked by someone channel hopping.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos announced “Prime Air” back in December, during an interview with CBS. Bezos appeared quite proud of his company’s plans, but admitted that it could be a few years before the drones were completely autonomous.
His statement indicated that the parcels that Prime Air could end up delivering would have maximum five pounds (2.26 kg). While this may seem limiting for a service such as Amazon, about 86 percent of all deliveries fit within the requirements.
The drones are supposed to make deliveries 10 miles (16 km) away from the fulfillment centers and will get to the destination in maximum half an hour.
