Amazon's New Delivery Drone Is Sleeker, Smarter, And Still Illegal!
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Two years ago, Jeff Bezos, the founder, and CEO of retail giant Amazon Inc. announced that the company would soon be introducing Amazon Prime Air - A new 30-minute delivery service using unmanned drones. Timed to coincide with the country's biggest online shopping day - 'Cyber Monday,' the news generated a lot of excitement among consumers. Unfortunately, thanks to the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the service has yet to 'take off!' But Amazon has not given up.
On November 30th, which also happened to be 'Cyber Monday', the company released a video of a new and improved drone. Adorned with Amazon's signature blue, white, and yellow colors, the delivery vehicle is larger than the one unveiled in 2013.
It can travel a distance of 15-miles at speeds of up to 55mph. Although the new drone takes off vertically like a quadcopter, its hybrid design that includes a rear propeller allows it to fly like an airplane.
To avoid both foot and air traffic, the drone is built to fly at a 'safe' altitude of 400-feet. Advanced sensors ensure that the autonomous vehicle can avoid obstacles both while in the air, and also during take off and landing.
Also, unlike the previous prototype, this one does not drop the packages to the ground. Instead, it seeks out a predesignated landing area chosen by the customer. To ensure that the drop-off zone is clear, and the parcel does not fall into wrong hands, the drone is programmed to notify the client its exact arrival time.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is for now given that FAA officials are still trying to decide how to regulate commercial drones. But Amazon is not worried. The company officials are so confident that Amazon Prime Air will be a reality soon that they are busy developing a 'family' of drones to handle all kinds of weather and terrain. But for now, we will just have to live with the “inconvenience” of waiting at least two days to receive our urgent packages!
Resources: npr.com,refinery29.com,gizmag.com
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1110 Comments
zink_playzabout 10 yearsawesome
rush27about 10 yearsi dont see the point. what if they want a 50 inch tv delivered in 30 minutes? could they just use a plane?- 679about 10 yearsthat is so coolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- guyabout 10 yearswow so cool
- soaringEagleabout 10 yearsawosom
- ice dragon 1about 10 yearsAWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- R2 D2about 10 yearsSo cool
tariq_224about 10 yearsThats cool i might have to order from there and see it with my own eyes- my name is jeffabout 10 yearscool
- here you goabout 10 years1.What is Amazon Prime Air? a drone that delivers packages. Why hasn't it launched yet? because they think its not safe. 2.What are some of the features of the recently unveiled drone? flying up to 55 mph. How does it try to ensure that the package gets delivered to the right person?by delivering it when the person wants them to. 3.Why does the author believe that Amazon is confident it will be able to launch Amazon Prime Air some day?because its getting safer and safer. Critical Thinking Challenge Can you think of the reason Amazon times its drone announcement on 'Cyber Monday?' because people buy a lot of stuff on cyber monday.