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.

  • space@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    It’s obvious that autonomous drones are more difficult to create than they seem… I think delivery robots that go on the ground are much safer and more feasible. They can carry heavier packages, they are less dangerous and can travel at less dangerous speeds.

    • Wirrvogel@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      … and they can get robbed or kicked, their sensors sprayed shut… and repair costs a fortune. I don’t think delivery without a human makes much sense, maybe except for a drone that delivers to the Australian outback or a small island at the German coast.

      They want desperately to cut delivery cost by taking out the human they have to pay for it to do the work. To do so they spent billions they could have used to pay these people a decent wage and hire more of them. It is dumb.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Solution: every 17th drone is a decoy carrying a paint bomb to mark anyone who robs it or were just standing around not trying to defend it or defending it effectively enough. Then the Amazon corporate police can swoop in and deal with anyone with paint on them.

      • space@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        There are ways to prevent that, like alarms, notifying the police. These robots will absolutely have ways to be tracked at all times, cameras and all. You could also only use them for low value packages, so the effort is less worth it.

    • Bwaz@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Because there arent enough people to fill delivery jobs? Or is it that they’d want living wages and health insurance?

      • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        Do you seriously think we shouldn’t try to automate things as much as possible? Why keep jobs that no one really wants to do?

        • Panurge987@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Because the reason no one wants to do those jobs is because they don’t pay anything and they don’t have any good benefits.

          • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            I would bet people don’t want to do those jobs because they’re not really fulfilling or enjoyable to most.