In what was described by many as a publicity stunt, Amazon‘s Jeff Bezos recently talked about using small drones to deliver packages. It would appear that others in the game, such as the world’s largest parcel service UPS, are also working on similar ideas.
Before anything could be said of drone deliveries, it must be noted that most analysts confidently cite that it will be ten years before any drone-based customer deliveries can be actually started. The Amazon announcement, most conclude, was merely a stunt to garner publicity and help bump up its Cyber Monday sales.
However, now that the e-retailer has revealed some of its future plans, others in the delivery business such as UPS have to follow suit. In an official statement from the company, UPS has said, “The commercial use of drones is an interesting technology and we’ll continue to evaluate it. UPS invests more in technology than any other company in the delivery business, and we’re always planning for the future.”
There is little doubt that the future of customer delivery services will include unmanned drones. However, it’s still a long way to go which is fraught with legal, logistic, technical and regulatory hurdles. The most pertinent question is, how are the major delivery services going to fly these drones into people’s driveways without raising privacy and safety concerns.
Moreover, watching a fleet of unmanned drones in the sky at all times isn’t exactly a sight many urban dwellers will cherish. So it’s safe to say, much like many others have estimated, that even if the likes of Amazon and UPS are able to push for a legalization of unmanned drones for delivery services, it will be 2025 or later before such plans could be enacted.
Courtesy: The Verge
[ttjad keyword=”htc-phones”]
