Amazon Aims For The Skies With Drone Transit Plans
Always on the hunt for ways of bettering their services and ensuring a wider reach, Amazon is now aiming for the sky!
Amazon is now considering various methods of delivering products to users within the shortest time possible, and this is where the drones come in...
Amazon has always consistently looked for ways of bettering its services and ensuring a wide reach. The online shopping giant loves to explore technologies that clearly push the limits, and most of the results achieved so far have been interesting. The rise and proliferation of Feedvisor, the intelligent repricing software for Amazon, regarded as one of the best around, speaks about Amazon’s appeal not only to buyers but entreprenerurs as well.
Interestingly, the company is now moving from that software-oriented spectrum and is now considering various methods of delivering products to users within the shortest time possible, and this is where the drone comes in.
Early this year, Amazon made the tentative announcement that it would be exploring the use of UAV’s in the shipping of some of its light merchandise. The announcement came at a good time, because back then, everyone was looking to capitalize on the power of the drone in photography, education, and even pizza delivery. The problem was that no one had tried to use these miniature crafts on such a big scale, and therein lay the challenge, and an opportunity for Amazon to lay down the gauntlet.
Patent application Interestingly, Amazon seems to have started laying the foundation for precisely what they promised. The company has already applied for a patent from the FAA, and the contents of that patent are intriguing. They want to launch a drone shipping service, where the user can choose a quick delivery of packages at checkout. Interestingly, this drone service promises the delivery of an item within 30 minutes.
Roving the skies According to Amazon, drone technologies are going to make the use of GPS systems in locking down people’s exact locations and tracking their movement. This essentially means that you can place an order at one location and move to a different place immediately after that, but the craft will still be able to find you and drop your package at your new location. The drones will be able to sense humans and other obstacles along the way, allowing for a change in trajectory. They will also scan the region ahead of them to determine weather patterns and engineer a change of routes if need be.
The caveat Amazon will eventually get the go-ahead, but the FAA is not letting them off the hook that easy. The aviation authority has strict criteria when it comes to the operating aspect of the drones. The UAV’s must always be visible to the operator, and said operator needs to possess at least a private pilot’s certification.
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