A few years ago, Amazon introduced the concept of delivery by drone. The idea was revolutionary. With unmanned aircraft of ever increasing sophistication, this seemed like a natural evolution for the online retail market. Amazon, being the biggest online store on the planet, was the perfect choice to blaze a path to the future with drone deliveries. Even though the actual roll out of Amazon Prime Air is a few years away, according to Vice President of Amazon Prime Air Gur Kimchi, it appears they are making some inroads to establish the infrastructure needed to make this dream a reality.
On Thursday, twitter user Andru Edwards reported that Amazon had come to his house to check out his back yard for Amazon Prime Air deliveries. Via Forbes.com:
“Amazon is coming to my house to scan my backyard for Prime Air drone delivery next week!” wrote Andru Edwards, a Seattle resident who heads up a tech review site, on Twitter. Edwards is also an Amazon video personality, who appears in short online films for the company.
Edwards has since deleted his tweet as it was picked up by more than a few news outlets seeking comment. It seems that a tweet about emerging tech from a person affiliated with the company producing the tech was taken a little more seriously than he probably intended.
The FAA has not established any regulations for unmanned aerial vehicles to operate commercially, but it is on track to do so within the next 12 months. Amazon assures the public it will be ready to hit the ground running once those regulations are approved. Again, via Forbes:
“We’d like to begin delivering to our customers as soon as it’s approved,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy. “We will have it all in place by the time any regulations are ready. We are working quickly.”
Yes, Amazon, please do work quickly. I want to be able to get my orders in 30 minutes or less. Or whenever. Between Prime Air and Prime by Bedtime, Amazon is really working to eliminate the need for brick and mortar retail stores entirely. I haven’t decided yet if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. All I know for sure is that is seems inevitable at this point.
