Huh, so if Amazon really wants to start sending out those drones they no longer have any legal hurdles? I expect to hear stories of college kids capturing them before EOY.
Im certain amazon is not living under the assumption that people capturing them won't be a problem, and I think its safe to assume they aren't going to release a bunch of easily stolen drones without coming up with a way to make it more difficult (much like the UPS driver who takes the keys out of his otherwise easy-to-steal truck).
There are many more hurdles that realistically keep Amazon from doing what they said.
Multi-tenant housing, people running under landing drones wanting to hit the 'Sue Amazon' lottery, and airspace ownership above private property are just a few of the gigantic hurdles that will take years to sort out.
Not to mention the power consumption issue still limits this idea tremendously.
At this point, it's just as realistic that Amazon would implement pneumatic tubing to your house as it is that a drone will deliver your soap.
Well society hasn't crumbled due to college students wrecking everything yet, so we must have figured out a way to deal with the drunk idiots. Perhaps some variation on the "If they break the law, arrest them for it." technique is being employed...
Plus, colleges need a way to trim the fat, so to speak. To eliminate groups of people that would attempt to steal a machine with a live network connection, GPS, several cameras, and surrounded by rapidly spinning blades.
I say that jokingly, but this happened in Iran to a plane operated by the US military.
Capture, hell - I'd enjoy shooting them down with my Remington 877 Express (with gooseload), or maybe my .243 Ruger rifle....but only if they are hovering.
I'm curious what property owners rights will be for private drone overflight. What altitude will they have to be? I also wonder if I put a 70ft radio tower (amateur radio) with guy wires for support, will the amazon drones be smart enough not to run into my equipment when overflying my house.
