Amazon Prime Air is a new delivery by drone system.
Amazon has introduced a new way to deliver packages to the customers. Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos says in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that his company is in the early stages of developing a delivery-by-drone system. If you live within 10 miles of an Amazon distribution center, you can get five pound and under packages to your door within 30 minutes. In densely populated urban areas the transportation is a main problem and the minimum distances sometimes have to travel for hours.
Technologically, in the Prime Air is ready to use, but legally, there’s a lot of problem. The FAA bans the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the U.S. for commercial purposes and it will take some number of years to wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations. The researchers must prove that they are able to avoid airplanes, helicopters, and one another and to handle sudden changes in the weather. However, Bezos hopes to get the system up and running the project into operation in 2015.
Nowdays, pilotless-aircrafts might currently be associated with military use, but Amazon is one of many companies and organizations beginning to think about using the octocopter with eight rotors in different ways.