The Future is here. Amazon readies "Amazon Prime Air"

That is super cool. I will have to use it at least once. May be nice in clutch moment when you need toilet paper and go to the store to get some.

I'm highly enthused over the idea of a ton of these things flying around everywhere delivering packages. This sounds like the coolest possible thing until we can teleport shit directly from a warehouse somewhere into our own homes.

It wont be low enough to actually hit with a rock until its approaching landing.

A real threat would be idiots trying to shoot these things, but they would be facing police wrath faster for shooting a weapon in a populated area then for shooting a drone for something that most likely doesn't cost that much.

This seems like a logistical nightmare. It also seems like the best thing.

Too bad it's obviously only going to be in the US for a while, definitely not with shitty amazon.ca.

Having a human being (who is audited) being culpable for those packages vs a machine that can easily be destroyed by a rock, a mechanical error or weather on route to your house is a totally different thing.

Sniper rifle with silencer^^

But seriously I can not see this being realized in 2015. Maybe 2020. But man imagine thousands of these things flying trough the city XD

Videogames are pretty light.

Then again, digital videogames are lighter.

I wonder how UPS is feeling right now.

I foresee a future where Brooklyn has a lot of drones hanging on power lines.

Where do you people live that someone shooting off a gun in a town at a robot or randomly vandalizing something with a rock is a major concern for you?

New Detroit.

Whats stoping people from just making/ordering their own quadcopter and bombing shit with it? And I think you have played too many video games if you think some average Joe can just "EMP" a drone out of the air.

If people complain about wind farms destroying their lives, and if people used to act like they got sick from wifi, then this stuff won't fly in most communities.

Quadcopters make a ton of noise; people will get really annoyed if they are hearing buzzing noises all the time. I only see this becoming a thing if they can reduce the noise and stop people from stealing packages through some sort of verification system.

It's pretty silly that the main concern is someone knocking it down with a rock or shooting it. These things won't be flying close to our heads, they're going to be high up. If someone decides to shoot it, I'm sure police will be on them soon enough. Shooting in the sky at these helicopters probably isn't a good idea. And for others saying it won't be able to carry heavy weight things, well, duh? I see this being a convenient way to get small packages, games, toys, and other things. As shown in the video, a drill. Heavier objects that contain more value will still be delivered as normal it seems.

So we cant mow our lawns now? all you people are so pessimistic about the future!

@lego_my_eggo said:

I live in a really nice area in New York but there are idiots everywhere that are willing to try something or do something destructive. The amount of prostitutes and drugs deals that happen in even my quiet neck of the woods is astounding to me. If I lived in Brooklyn or one of the other 5 boroughs, I'm sure I'd be even more paranoid about theft and vandalism.

It is actually REALLY simple. When a person delivers it the delivery company knows where it was sent, who sorted it, at what time, what truck it was on, and who drove it. If your package gets damaged someone was responsible somewhere down the line and you can get it dealt with normally. When someone shoots this thing down with a BB gun who the F knows who did it, Amazon is out a probably expensive as shit drone, it likely cost you a lot more shipping, and you didn't get your package. I am also willing to bet Amazon won't be too fast to honor insurance or warranties on these things either because long term any dumb ass who gets to it first can always just steal it even if you assume they don't just take the drone out. At least with an actual postman they can put your package in your mail box, or give it to someone who works at your apartment building and say "this is for X".

Wow that is insane.

if they really are eventually able to deliver in 30 minutes or less to the top 50 US cities, the amount of jobs this could destroy is absolutely enormous.

@lego_my_eggo: Dude, I'm siked about this stuff, it's just that most people are afraid and annoyed by new scary things.

I know, right? Progress and technology are just terrible and un-American. Let's roll back the industrial age and live like god intended. Get those chimney sweeps and lamp lighters their jobs back.

Seriously though. So many of these are going to get shot down.

The occasional vandalism or theft won't be a problem for consumers. Amazon will obviously know the package never got to you and will send a replacement. I'm not really sure how I feel about this whole thing though...

Q: One day we'll see a fleet of Prime Air vehicles in the sky?

A: Yes. One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today.

Is that supposed to sell me on the idea?

@yothatlimp: That's when we arm them with weapons to protect our packages.

What a ridiculous and irrelevant statement.

@ssully: But I taped this flashlight and toaster together, are you saying this won't work?

I know damn well how I feel about that idea.

AWESOME.

eerie

Ohohoho December Fools, everybody!

A suppressor doesn't actually silence your shot very much because there's not a whole lot you can really do to silence an explosion, which is what a gunshot is. They're more used to eliminate muzzle flash and soften the sound to hide your position. Even with a suppressor, if you shoot a gun in a populated area, people WILL know.

I hate to be this way...but you do realize houses still have chimneys...right?

@artelinarose: Unless subsonic ammunition is used in conjunction with the suppressor, but now we're splitting hairs. Next up...armed escort drones for Amazon delivery vehicles. However, instead of being armed with guns and rockets, I suggest outfitting them with darts filled with a solution that will immediately sterilize the target. We don't want those people procreating.

I for one welcome our robot-Amazon overlords.

@jakob187: you could do that now with a nice hobby RC plane.

Besides that at the 50 million other ways automating a service like this could fail, I love the idea that someone is looking into it.

I can smell the lawsuits with people dying from falling packages landing on their heads. We seriously can't wait the two days?

I'm skeptical how this will work for them, at least in the beginning. Although the idea of robots delivering packages to me is both incredibly cool and sort of scary.

It would be really great if Amazon had the ability to deliver their goods in that short of an amount of time. Their prices are way better than retail stores on just about everything so this would be amazing and a good thing for consumers.

Nah it's not un-American just majorly disruptive technology. All disruption cause major job displacement. This is going to put a whole lot of people out of work if it works, brick and mortar retailers, wholesalers who service them, probably some ad companies who rely on retailer business, delivery companies etc etc. Not all of them of course, but a healthy chunk probably. Is what it is.

What's potentially different is the sheer magnitude of the number of jobs it could displace and the speed at which it could. The economy probably won't adjust very quickly in human terms in providing new ones compared to how fast the jobs are destroyed. That's the price of innovation.

If this technology progresses and this becomes the way all major companies handle logistics then sure. If were talking only Amazon I fail to see how just amazon would have a huge affect on jobs in logistic based businesses such as USPS,UPS and FedEX. Sure, I'm sure amazon traffic amounts for a reasonable amount of freight that passes through these companies but unless this absolutely became the norm with all major companies I don't think it would be an issue.

We wouldn't need drones if we all had pneumatic tubes.

I am stupidly excited for amazon.jp to get this so I can have a robot deliver my japanese porn games.

@icicle7x3 said:

Zero Suit Samus' booty was the first thing that came to my mind too. Weird.

Due to humans being completely awful, this does not seem like a thing that can possibly work out.....though I think it'd be super cool to look up and just see these things flying around.

How much is it going to cost to use that option?

I was thinking along the entire brick and mortar retail based economy. There's a lot of interconnected companies who are dependent on the current mall and big box formats that dominate today's landscape. 30 minutes is a game changer, for many that's faster than going to a physical store.

I also assume that if drones work for Amazon, others will copy them. i.e.. other e-tailers obviously as well other segments e.g. I could see Domino's pizza doing something with this if the cost isn't too prohibitive (replace pizza drivers?).

Not saying all these companies will go away, but that some could go under, many could probably significantly downsize and many will replace a meaningful portion of their human workforce with robots. You add all that up the numbers could get pretty huge. It's potentially majorly disruptive technology, massive short term (hopefully)job loss is happens when disruptive technology enters the economy. Hopefully new jobs end up being created in new fields to replace the ones lost, but they don't always show up right away or in the same compensation or quantity.

in any event I imagine this is years away from implementation anyway.

PIZZA DRONE TRACKER

I dunno, Chicago's pretty windy.

@turtlebird95: Probably a ton. Maybe they do something like you pay them a ton of money, and then if the drone makes it back okay, or there's proof you aren't the reason it didn't, you get your money back? I dunno.

Shoot them out of the air, get free shit.

The paranoid redneck in me says "I'mma bag my limit!!"

So this seems unecessary, I buy mostly useless crap from Amazon and don't need it that quick. But I DO want pizza drones that can get it to me in 15 minutes or less. And people like Jeff can finally get their shitty pizza in Petaluma!

Well, I live in Texas where, for the moment, aerial drones are restricted from commercial use and only officially allowed for police business.

Though, Amazon seems big enough that they might be able to strike a deal. Just don't be surprised if people shoot a few down if they go over private property. The FAA has encouraged people not to shoot down drones, but at the moment, it may in fact be legal to shoot one down if it encroaches on someone's property.

I wonder how high Amazon's drones will be able to fly...

There's a New Detroit? They're trying at it a second time? Best of luck to 'em!!