Monday, December 2, 2013

Mini-UAVs to deliver Amazon packages? - Le Figaro

The project online retail giant regards deliveries of small parcels in urban areas. But its widespread deployment by “four to five years” can not be done if the U.S. legislation is revised.

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will we soon deliver our Amazon orders drones? This is the idea of ??Jeff Bezos, CEO of the American giant of online business. He announced Sunday night on American CBS that his company developed the project using mini-UAVs to deliver small packages for its clients in just half an hour.

“Amazon Prime Air” The project could be operational by “four to five years,” said Jeff Bezos, subject to obtaining the necessary authorizations issued by the aviation authorities. “I know it sounds like science fiction. But it is not, “he has said. Mini-UAVs could deliver parcels weighing up to 2.3 kilos. A boon for the company, since this type of control is 86% of deliveries. The speed of delivery only 30 minutes from ordering to receiving the parcel is highlighted in a promotional film made by Amazon.

Jeff Bezos also highlighted the “greenness” of the operation. Mini-drones would indeed be powered by electric motors, less harmful to the environment than road transport. Only downside: the deliveries would only be possible within 16 kilometers warehouses. This distance can cover a large part of the population in urban areas but makes complicated serving rural areas, unless Amazon decides to densify its network of warehouses. The group has four such structures in France.

Amazon is not the first company to pay close attention to the use of drones. SNCF began in early November a series of flight tests drones in the South of France to monitor their network. Civilian drones flying over the tracks to fight against the theft of cables. Nevertheless, a general device is not intended for three or four years. In the United States, young researchers have developed an unmanned aircraft capable of delivering burritos at home in record time. And the authorities of the State of Florida rely on drones since last summer … solve a mosquito problem. Invaded by pests, the state is going to provide a device to locate nests of larvae and “kill the problem in the bud.”

But the development of these projects remains difficult for companies dependent on the goodwill of the government to obtain necessary for overflight permissions. While U.S. airspace is carefully scrutinized since September 11, 2001, it is far from certain that drones can move outside the control of a national security agency. FAA Federal Aviation Administration of the U.S., does not yet allow the use of drones for commercial purposes. Barack Obama nevertheless signed last year a reform to modernize the FAA. This new law should allow in 2015 the use of drones by companies for their supplies.


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