This community likes to link to the most cancerous news sites.
Try this instead https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/30/24167776/amazon-prime-air-delivery-drones-faa-bvlos-approval
Pretty exciting, I just wish it was someone other than Amazon doing it.
Thanks, updated.
I cannot see how Amazon expects to profit on this. Seems wildly expensive/complex and I’d rather wait than pay more for shipping.
Their theory is that they can replace Human employees with this and thus save money.
And on top of which, these are definitely noisy nuisances, and as a result people are gonna fuck with them, and it’s inevitable that eventually it’s gonna hurt someone, which’ll cause a huge backlash and expensive lawsuits, etc etc etc.
The only situation i can see these being even potentially viable is in very rural areas, where delivery routes are expensive, people have lots of open land for it to safely reach the ground, and there aren’t a lot of nearby neighbors to annoy
And in rural areas, it’ll be called “skeet shooting with prizes”. I know exactly what my redneck neighbors are like…
It probably won’t be profitable in rural areas to begin with.
“Leroy! One of them Amazon critters is coming! Bring your shotgun! Last time we gots that airpad thingy, let’s see what this one brings”
Not that most tech will actually work after you fill it with birdshot and let it fall from the sky, but hey, at least it’s fun
But are they going to be flying? The project has been on a death spiral for years.
So this means regular people are allowed to legally fly drones without line of sight too now… Right? (bet it doesn’t) :padme meme:
I didn’t know they were still doing this. I remember jokes in Parks and Rec about this forever ago.
The noise complaints and landing safety issues are definitely a problem, but the cost savings potential and sustainability/safety effects of taking delivery trucks off the road is a huge win.
I can see how noise and landing safety issues delivering to your door property can really stall this. However, landing to an approved community mailbox might avoid some of those issues.
