Amazon has taken the wraps off the latest iteration of its Prime Air delivery drone that it says could be delivering online orders to customers’ doors “in the coming months.” Considering the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) cautious approach to commercial drone deliveries, it’s a bold claim, but more on that later.
First, the drone. Amazon unveiled its new-look flying machine at its MARS Conference (Machine learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space) event in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 5.
The autonomous electric-powered aircraft features six rotors and can take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane. A video (above) showing it in action reveals a look quite unlike any we’ve seen before, with a protective hexagonal frame that tips once it starts flying through the air, and a central chamber for holding the packages pointing forward as it flies.
Jeff Wilke, chief of the company’s global consumer business, said the drone can fly 15 miles and carry packages weighing up to 5 pounds, which, he said, covers most stuff ordered on Amazon.
The executive added that the latest design demonstrates “advances in efficiency, stability and, most importantly, safety” over previous iterations of Amazon’s Prime Air drone, the first of which was unveiled in 2013.
Indeed, safety in the skies is what it’s all about when it comes to drone delivery.
Alphabet’s Wing project
Amazon is in competition with a number of companies, including Wing, owned by Google parent Alphabet. Wing recently launched a drone delivery service in a part of Canberra, Australia, and is now conducting trials for a similar service in Finland.
In April 2018, the company announced it had become the first in the U.S. to receive Air Carrier Certification from the FAA, making it a step closer to launching commercial drone deliveries from local businesses to homes in the U.S.
Launching a drone delivery service may have turned out to be harder than many of these companies originally imagined, but with ongoing advances in technology that pave the way for safer designs, and moves toward the creation of the infrastructure needed to manage multiple autonomous drones at once, such a service, in one form or another, is surely edging closer.
First, the drone. Amazon unveiled its new-look flying machine at its MARS Conference (Machine learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space) event in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 5.
The autonomous electric-powered aircraft features six rotors and can take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane. A video (above) showing it in action reveals a look quite unlike any we’ve seen before, with a protective hexagonal frame that tips once it starts flying through the air, and a central chamber for holding the packages pointing forward as it flies.
Jeff Wilke, chief of the company’s global consumer business, said the drone can fly 15 miles and carry packages weighing up to 5 pounds, which, he said, covers most stuff ordered on Amazon.
The executive added that the latest design demonstrates “advances in efficiency, stability and, most importantly, safety” over previous iterations of Amazon’s Prime Air drone, the first of which was unveiled in 2013.
Indeed, safety in the skies is what it’s all about when it comes to drone delivery.
Alphabet’s Wing project
Amazon is in competition with a number of companies, including Wing, owned by Google parent Alphabet. Wing recently launched a drone delivery service in a part of Canberra, Australia, and is now conducting trials for a similar service in Finland.
In April 2018, the company announced it had become the first in the U.S. to receive Air Carrier Certification from the FAA, making it a step closer to launching commercial drone deliveries from local businesses to homes in the U.S.
Launching a drone delivery service may have turned out to be harder than many of these companies originally imagined, but with ongoing advances in technology that pave the way for safer designs, and moves toward the creation of the infrastructure needed to manage multiple autonomous drones at once, such a service, in one form or another, is surely edging closer.
Zipping through the sky, Competition between Alphabet and Amazon, the two A's
Reviewed by Akhil Kumar
on
July 11, 2019
Rating:
Reviewed by Akhil Kumar
on
July 11, 2019
Rating:
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