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Amazon's drone delivery program is the joke it always sounded like. (news.yahoo.com)

submitted 1 year ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Only one item can be delivered at a time. It can’t weigh more than 5 pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it from 12 feet. The drones can’t fly when it is too hot or too windy or too rainy.

You need to be home to put out the landing target and to make sure that a porch pirate doesn’t make off with your item or that it doesn’t roll into the street (which happened once to Lord and Silverman). But your car can’t be in the driveway. Letting the drone land in the backyard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees.

Amazon has also warned customers that drone delivery is unavailable during periods of high demand for drone delivery.

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[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I disagree with you with the efficiency comment. In an ideal scenario, deliver by air can be super efficient. No road obstacles, shortest path trajectories, hell, the sky is 3D!

It's been tried before: messenger pigeons.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can be efficient, but the major pro-land point is: what would it do having 0 fuel?

A car would stop, a drone would drop.

It's an exception and no one would pilot a drone to it's exhaustion, but either way holding it in the air is a costy investment.

[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How do robo-taxis or electric bikes for rent deal with the fuel problem? It's an already solved issue.

However, you do have a point with malfunctions.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those don't tend to fall out of the sky when they run out of power.

[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Understood, but then robotaxis have run over people without the need of flying.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

E-bikes and e-scooters are better, but I haven't personally seen an infrastructure to use them unless they are personally owned and recharged at home. Are there stations for them in the US?

Robo-taxis though are their own can of worms. Discussion about their capabilities can take days.

[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure how it works in the U.S., but in Europe there are stations in which users are encouraged to go to and grab a recharged battery (for a discount.) I'm guessing they have employees who do this as well..