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It's obviously not ever going on the same scale as Amazons service but there is already something similar underway in Australia: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/push-for-liftoff-o... Apparently we have very forward thinking laws in regards to UAVs
Sorry, I'm bitter still. My state is frustrating me.
Also related: http://tacocopter.com/
Brick-and-mortar stores are doomed. I can only see a few types of products remaining in brick-and-mortars: Clothes that you want to try for size, fruits and vegetables that you want to sample, and restaurants... any others?
I don't understand how this would work without having distribution centers that fully cover the nation to within 30 minutes, and having every item they sell at every such center. Even if you just want to cut UPS out of the last 30 minute radius and not stock everything at every distribution center... that's still distribution centers everywhere.
In a hypothetical situation where a delivery drone gets sniped by some kid with a 22, what is Amazon's response?
Just wondering how much it will cost to be a member after all. Flying a quadcopter is not cheap!
UAV quadcopters are kinda amazing and getting amazing-er by the year. (I spent too long looking over http://www.helipal.com this weekend.) You can buy one for under $400 with auto-hover, GPS return-to-home, and built in cameras (or a gopro gimble attachment). Sadly, they only get about 5 to 10 minutes of flight time.
I assume that the kind of quadcopter that could lift a few kg and had decent flight time would probably run you 3-4k with today's tech, at consumer prices. Even then, a fairly good investment. At bulk prices with 4 years in the future tech, this thing would pay for itself in no time.
Hope they get the FAA on board!