Today would probably be one of those days where you wish you were living in other parts of the world, particularly in the U.S. The Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, recently unveiled that the company is working on a new service called Amazon Prime Air that uses a drone to deliver your shopping to you in under half an hour. The project was announced in a program aired on CBS called “60 minutes”.
There’s a limit of course, to the weight and distance these octocopters can carry and travel. Amazon says that 86% of their packages are less than 5 pounds (or 2.3kg), these drones can carry such packages up to 16km from the fulfillment center. As demoed in the video below, when a customer places an order and selects Prime Air delivery, the parcel would be packed and sent down the conveyor belt whereby a drone would be eagerly waiting. Once secured, the octocopter will start its journey to its destination.
Don’t get too excited though, the service will not launch immediately. Amazon says that it might take as long as four to five years and is still subject to safety and regulatory rules by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
