Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos once had a dream: that one day, everything people order from his e-commerce website will be delivered to their homes by drones. But that dream seems to be quite far off, even today.
A drone designed to deliver packages from online retailer Amazon on show at the exhibition "Drones: Is the Sky the limit?" at the ntrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, USA, 2 August 2017.
In a recent report by Bloomberg, it was revealed that Amazon's drone delivery service hasn't lived up to expectations so far, ten years in and $2 billion in R&D money later. An investigation using internal documents showed how the Amazon drones have been plagued by technical problems, safety concerns, and high employee turnover rates.
This is punctuated by a major crash back in March, when a drone fell off the sky in Oregon from 160 feet up and caused an "acres-wide fire," reports Futurism.
With results like this, regulators such as the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) are now evaluating whether Amazon's drones are even airworthy at all, considering they're supposed to bring people's packages to them in 30 minutes-with their orders ranging from small, handheld items to potentially massive ones weighing several hundred pounds or more.
But despite the numerous instances of failures and safety problems, the e-commerce giant is chalking this up to "rigorous testing." This was the statement of company spokesperson Av Zammit in an email to Bloomberg. He then goes on by saying that no person has ever been harmed as a result of the drones' flights, and that they're "applying" everything they learn from every flight to improving overall safety.
Testing Is Going To Get Ramped Up
Last year, Amazon wanted to conduct a total of 2,500 test flights-a number they missed. But this year, they're setting a loftier goal of 12,000. So far, they've only completed less than 200 flights, but that's not stopping the Big Tech giant from fulfilling Jeff Bezos' dream.
To aid their test flights, Amazon is buying up and establishing new test flight locations in Texas and California for their drones. Aside from that, the company is also looking to test the delivery drones without observers keeping an eye on them-considered a good first step in making autonomous delivery drones.
Read also: Amazon's Idea For A Drone Hub Looks Like A Futuristic Beehive
Competitors Looking To Capitalize
There are multiple problems that plague Amazon's drone delivery service, which are likely what causes them to fail more often than they succeed. As per TechNewsWorld, this can include factors such as the weather, the drone's operational range, and even human intervention (i.e. people shooting down the drones or stealing the packages they leave on people's porches.). But that doesn't mean competitors are stepping back.
Among the biggest and most recent attempts at a drone delivery system comes from retail chain Walmart. Back in September of 2020, Walmart's first-ever drone delivery attempt was a success, with customers in Fayetteville, North Carolina receiving their packages "within the allotted" time. The company made this possible by partnering with drone company Flytrex.
It will take some time before your online orders are delivered by drone. Are you willing to wait?
Related: Drone Delivery Research to Get Major Funding after China's Meituan Secures $10 Billion
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
