Amazon delivered a lovely update on its ‘Prime Air’ project today — almost exactly two years after it showed the first iteration of its drone. You know, the flying delivery dronethat some thought was a massive joke meant for April 1st. Included are some high-res shots and two new videos.The video, moderated by ex-Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson (who is now working on a new series for Amazon), talks about the design and your experience as a recipient:
As you can see, Amazon has now moved to a hybrid design. It looks much bigger than in previous renderings. Imagine that thing flying towards the neighbor’s house. Get ready for reports of aliens rising if this thing ever comes to fruition.
The new Prime Air drone isn’t just a quadcopter anymore. It still takes off and lands vertically, but then it switches to a regular horizontal flight mode, which is far more efficient. It’s basically part helicopter, part airplane. With this new design, the drone can cover over 15 miles and fly over 55 mph, Amazon says. In the video, Clarkson says Amazon is working on a family of drones for different environments and purposes.
The new drones feature at least some degree of sense-and-avoid technology and once it arrives at its intended location, it’ll scan the area and look for a landing spot. Right now, it looks like users will be able to mark this spot in their yard, for example, with an Amazon logo. The drone then lands, drops off the package and takes off again.
“This design enables it to fly long distances efficiently and go straight up and down in a safe, agile way. It is one of many prototype vehicles we have developed,” an Amazon spokesperson told us. “One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.”
Obviously, Amazon still has a few hurdles to climb, even with this new design. Chances are, we won’t see these new drones deliver packages in a city anytime soon. The new design, however, should work really well in a more rural and suburban area (and yes, feel free to leave us a comment about how you would shoot it down if it flew over your house).
If Amazon can solve some of the harder sense-and-avoid issues (like small power lines), then maybe Prime Air will take off sooner than many of use expected (assuming Amazon manages to work within the FAA’s upcoming regulations for commercial drones).
source & more: http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/amazon-shows-off-new-prime-air-drone-with-hybrid-design/?ncid=pushup
Comments
It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Only in extreme cases does some one need something in 30 min. Heck it would take most people longer than that to place the order. Maybe emergency drug delivery to a super rich prince from an oil exporting nation, renting a mansion in Beverly Hills. But the cargo would most likely be illegal and Amazon would not have that in inventory.
@Jack, so, sort of like Pony express, but with electric horses?
@John, I really don't think anybody can really make a logical argument, that this aircraft is safer than a helicopter. Either is capable of killing somebody, and dead is dead. At least helicopters are a solved problem with decades of engineering behind them from which to draw on. They are a solved problem.
In any case, I still think this whole concept is silly anyway. It does not make any economic sense at all.
It seems like rather silly wandering of PhD's to further their own research instead of Bezos's goal. The most direct solution was a network of autonomous base stations spaced 10 minutes apart. A quad copter would fly for 10 minutes, land at a base station & exchange the package with a freshly charged quad copter ready to go the next 10 minutes. It could have been implemented in remote areas, years ago.
I can't believe they are actually aiming for 'at your doorstep' personal delivery. The things that can (and will) go wrong with that are just countless.
John, 15 miles for that size and weight (and cost, I'm sure) is not very impressive to me.
I like the colors. :)
FYI, APM:Copter already has (will have) the land-on-target feature.
New control method under active development:
@Rob if it can "cover 15 miles", than it means to me it has to be able to fly 30 at least. Anyway it probably is a pr stunt as @Giovanni pointed, but it is a very positive pr for drone community :)
Not very fast at all. however- im impressed at the cargo bay and the door system.
...and here we go again! Just before Christmas, exactly as 2 years ago, another pr stunts.
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