[founder4fun]

For me and many it seems file this under hard to believe!

It begs me to wonder....

1. Won't theft of packages run rampant or Amazon only will deploy drones to customers currently home?

2. Wouldn't the drones be subject to be shot or brought down?

3. Will this only fly in good weather?

4. The sky is going to be littered with these things flying around?

5. Will there be a service where you can rent a drone to spy on your mate? Divorce lawyers could sell it.

[alister]

If you recast these questions according to how deliveries work right now, I think you see that we already have all those problems and we manage to live with them:

1. Won't theft run rampant if UPS drops off your package at your door when you're not home?

2. Don't drivers of cars and trucks risk getting shot or stopped?

3. Will cars and trucks travel only in good weather?

4. The highways are going to be littered with cars and trucks driving around? Won't this lead to "traffic jams"?

5. Will there be a service where you can rent a car (or taxi) to spy on your mate?

I'm not trying to be glib, but rephrasing the questions like this puts the issues in a new light. You can see the potential problems and solutions.

[baddox]

Also, it should be mentioned that the answer to those questions is that thousands of packages get stolen and thousands of people get killed every year in the current system, yet we still apparently find it acceptable. I find it hard to imagine this drone delivery paradigm being worse.

[bulatb]

#4 is less an issue since one truck can carry all the packages for people on its route. With Prime Air, it looks like it's one drone per package/person/destination. If the tradeoff is between vehicles per package (A) and average time to delivery (B), trucks choose A and drones choose B.

[yeukhon]

#3 is wrong. Flying a drone in a windy / rainy weather isn't exactly the same as driving a car. One is more massive and resistive. The drone we see in demo probably can't fly very well under strong wind or heavy ring. Size matters.

[jessriedel]

Your response really isn't helpful for 2 and 3.

[brc]

(5) I know several people with video-enabled drones. Look on youtube - it's a whole genre. That ship has sailed.

Although you'd have to be a pretty stupid adulterer to get caught by a noisy drone while cheating. That may just be a tautology.

[mapmeld]

On (1), it's 30-minute delivery, so I assume you would only order while you were at home.

On (5) for enough money you could probably already do this. Paparazzi photographers have already started using drones in the EU and US.

[PhasmaFelis]

Re: #2: I'm pretty sure it's already illegal to shoot at other people's property (or within city limits at all, most places).

[founder4fun]

Ha this whole thing seems to be just great advertising for Amazon on the heels of cyber monday.