Amazon tests delivery drones in Canada after US frustration

The most interesting part of that story is the name of the guy in charge of the project.

Excerpt:
Gur Kimchi, the architect and head of Prime Air, said the hope had always been to develop the drone service in the US, close to the company’s Seattle headquarters. “But we’re limited there to flying indoors and have been now for a very long time. So we do what’s necessary – we go to places where we can test outside, in this case Canada.”
 
What is the maximum wind one of these things can fly in? I'm seeing a big problem with this, even with no airspace restrictions, that drones are far from "all weather capable" and would probably about the least reliable (not to mention inefficient) means to deliver a package. My guess is this venture is about as doomed as the Amazon Phone.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
What is the maximum wind one of these things can fly in? I'm seeing a big problem with this, even with no airspace restrictions, that drones are far from "all weather capable" and would probably about the least reliable (not to mention inefficient) means to deliver a package. My guess is this venture is about as doomed as the Amazon Phone.
Click to expand...

I just Bezos just wants Amazon to be cool.

It's kind of like the 3D thing on the Amazon phone: It's cool, but kind of useless. But apparently Bezos was obsessed with it throughout the development process. It was the most important feature of the phone for him -- despite the fact that it gulps battery life like a wino quaffs Ripple, and that no one knows exactly what its purpose is supposed to be other than being cool.

Still, it's good that Amazon is doing this research. Most likely something good will come of it. Maybe the drones will make order-pulling inside the warehouses even more efficient than it already is, or maybe the research will make it possible to use them for things like dropping supplies into disaster areas. To that end, I think it's a good thing.

If I were an Amazon shareholder, however, I might feel differently. I doubt this obsession with drones is ever going to make any money for Amazon.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
If I were an Amazon shareholder, however, I might feel differently. I doubt this obsession with drones is ever going to make any money for Amazon.
Click to expand...

Given how little money Amazon actually makes, I'm surprised the stock hasn't collapsed yet.
 
If Amazon can get it to work, it can cut significant amounts from it's delivery cost, and get products delivered faster.

The story point out the underlying problem with the US government (in general) that things don't move quickly at all. There's more interest in protecting the status-quo (and entrenched interests) than there is in allowing innovation. And a real CYA attitude that kills innovation.

It's not just the FAA, either.... the FCC was long just as bad, though some things have moved much faster lately.
 
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