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Amazon Prime Air

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Re: Amazon Prime Air

#571

Post by awj »

bigtunacan wrote: post #288
grmarcil wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victim in your link, if you look at the picture, was flying a single-rotor helicopter with what looks to be a 4+ foot wingspan. The prototype in the Amazon video is an 8-rotor helicopter with little 4 to 6 inch wingspans. Anything that goes to production will have to pass FAA approval, so they will probably end up with some sort of hoop guard at the least. Negativity for the sake of negativity?

Not negativity for the sake of negativity. While the link I posted is a large single rotor helicopter, I was trying to show a worst case scenario. If Amazon Air does get off the ground then I would imagine the program expanding to delivering heavier packages over time, which would require larger quad copters and thus larger rotors and higher risk of more serious injuries. I have built and fly hobby planes and copters…

So your "worst case scenario" includes a complete lack of reasonable safety precautions that the FAA would mandate before this is approved AND damage inflicted by something with 8x the wingspan (not to mention differences in engine power)? You believe this is a reasonable comparison?

We could build UPS trucks that are two lanes wide and paint over their windshields, but we don't. Because that would be stupid. So stupid that comparing the risk involved isn't even worthy of discussion.

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#572

Post by 404error »

jmduke wrote: post #176

(Disclaimer: I work for Amazon, but not for anything related to this. This is the first time I'm learning of Prime Air.) I'm somewhat disheartened by the skepticism of a lot of comments from HN, Reddit, and Twitter. Not stuff like "I wonder how they'll handle adverse weather" (which I think is intellectually interesting) but stuff like "As soon as one of these kills a dog it's done for". What merit is there in rootin…

Ugh, don't read to much into the comments here. HN is full of whiners... or maybe I'm just getting old and the young crowd seems to whine a lot.

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#573

Post by stanmancan »

I really hope they can pull this off, I think it would be amazing. Not only would it be great from a customer's stand point, but think about how much better it would be for the environment. Millions of miles driven by delivery trucks polluting the air being replaced by drones. Outstanding!

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#574

Post by stcredzero »

rossjudson wrote: post #262
lancewiggs wrote: post #240

Responses that I have not yet seen in the comments. 1: These could deliver into my apartment on the nth floor by coming through an open window, as well as the mentioned balconies and front yards or the roof. 2: We could not just set our delivery point up using a app on our smartphones (GPS wtc), but those phones could also broadcast over the various radios to the device and even use the camera to help the UAV navigat…

I could deliver to the nth floor with a giant slingshot, angry birds style.

Heh. "Angry Retailers."

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#575

Post by RandallBrown »

cheapsteak wrote: post #376
dpcan wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does this thing even have to land? Can't it drop each package with a mini parachute from about roof-top level with good accuracy? Or even 10ft, just above the height of most kids, dogs, cars and adults.

If we're talking about urban areas, and since most people in urban areas live in highrises, where would it even land on ? I'm sure there's a solution, it's incredibly fun to think about. edit: Maybe install a landing pad by the window? People are allowed to install satelite receivers there right? Why not a small landing pad

My apartment building has a large rooftop deck. It would be easy to set up a package drop zone or something for the drones to use.

If the drones are really good, I have a balcony they could easily land on to deliver packages right to my place in a pretty secure way.

Also, given the timeframe (30 minutes), the drone could just text me to go outside and I could pick it up on the sidewalk outside my apartment.

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#576

Post by bteitelb »

gwern wrote: post #144
NoPiece wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noise would be an issue with gas powered drones.

Cars aren't that noisy, and drones are going to be high up in any case.

To minimize noise and visual pollution, it would be better for these drones to fly low, along existing roads to take advantage of existing noise abatement measures (e.g. noise barriers walls, berms, roadside vegetation, etc.)

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#577

Post by csmuk »

awj wrote: post #569
csmuk wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And of course the counter-story: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1144377 (page 5+ is most interesting) These are injuries caused by helicopters, drones, quadcopters etc. I don't want that shit floating around me. They are seriously dangerous bits of kit. Yes I know the "versus cars" argument but cars don't intentionally fall out of the sky on you and have roads to go on.

Drones don't intentionally fall "on you" either. By the numbers cars are probably the second most dangerous thing you interact with day-to-day (cheeseburgers being the first). Safe travel - especially safe failure - is obviously an important concern, but can we at least bring up some rational evaluation?

Well they fail to prevent falling on you very well as the link shows. A lot of the accidents are from spurious behaviour and unrecoverable flight profiles.

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#578

Post by randyrand »

datacog wrote: post #287
randyrand wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who says amazon won't also deliver pizza?

thats not the point. The point being, there could be other alternatives which could deliver in the same time and be actually developed faster without waiting on FAA regulations to get approved

My point was that maybe pizza (and by your extension most things) is better delivered this way.

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#579

Post by michaelt »

rayhano wrote: post #568
YeahKIA wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope they are delusional about the 2015 timeline they talk about on their website

Helicopters (used for media coverage, passenger transport and medical emergency) provide the perfect template for the Aviation Authority and Amazon to base a framework of operation on. The main considerations will be: - Set routes/paths the drones must follow, taking I to account altitudes that minimise traffic with other things high up (buildings, aircraft, UFOs) - emergency procedures and a risk assessment for each…

I don't know about America but in the UK aviation authorities already permit flying models [1] and aerial work such as photography if certain requirements are met [2]. Regulators are understandably keen on collision avoidance, so they usually say UAVs must stay within the operator's line of sight - or have a 'sense and avoid' system. The UK's CAA "is not currently aware of any Sense-and-Avoid system with adequate performance and reliability" [3]

So, that's the regulatory challenge. Need to sense and avoid obstacles and other aircraft, and do a good enough job of it that aviation authorities will sign off on it.

(In addition to the regulatory challenge, there may also be business, operational and engineering challenges.)

[1] http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1416&pageid=8153 [2] http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=11213 [3] http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=11186

Re: Amazon Prime Air

#580

Post by wpietri »

konaseer wrote: post #566
wpietri wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if they do that with Amazon's current delivery vehicles? Same answer.

they cant/dont encroach into your property

I think your theory here must be the common-law view that if one owns property, one owns it from the core of the earth up to the edge of space. But that hasn't been true since the invention of the airplane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights#United_States
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