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Amazon PrimeAir: All-Electric Drones to Deliver Purchases in The Next Few Years

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Image via Amazon.com
Image via Amazon.com

The online retail giant Amazon announced that they have been developing and testing electric drones, within a service called Amazon PrimeAir, which can quickly and efficiently deliver small packages in less than half an hour.

The only obstacle that slows down the full implementation of the all electric and very green technology is the approval by the US Federal Aviation Authority. To quote the chief executive of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, “I know it looks like science fiction. It is not.”

In a secret research operation, which has been taking place in a small specialized laboratory in Seattle, Amazon developed the ‘Octoptors‘, small, all-electric drones, which are likely to start delivering our online purchases within the next four to five years. With this green technology, the company not only plans to cut down on delivery time to maximum of 30 minutes after the order has been placed, but they will also replace the need of all these highly polluting delivery trucks.

The small pilotless PrimeAir drones will deliver packages up to five pounds in weight. The drone will be powered by eight rotor helicopter blades (hence the origin of the name), while each of the arms will have their own motor in order to ensure safety and no accidents. The gadget will be navigated to the addresses via an inbuilt GPS tracking system. The cost of each drone has not been revealed, although similar but much smaller devices cost around $14,000.

Bezos is certain that he will be able to convince the US Federal Aviation Authority to issue the technology with the required permit, although this will be quite a challenge. If the currently existing rules are changed soon, Amazon would be able to send around 7,500 PrimeAir drones to addresses across the U.S.

The announcement was firstly taken as a joke, but shortly after it met quite a variety of criticism in online blogs. Nevertheless, the makers are determined to go ahead and do everything possible in order to implement the technology as soon as possible.

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