We’ve been hearing for years about the future and incredible functions (note the irony of the phrase in question) of unmanned aircrafts or “drones” as it is endlessly repeated via all means of communication. Referred to in the use of anything from fire protection, border control, maritime rescue and so on. Truthfully speaking, the halo of futurism that UAS want, invites these functionalities that are credible, feasible and desirable to be mocked and thanks to social networks, publicly scorned.
In many countries, there is lack of control in safely operating these unmanned systems.
The effect of social networks before any announcement from any guru is for the uninformed. This is incredible. First we read that Jeff Bezoz is going to announce something, then the live ad itself, then the official announcement from Amazon, and finally taunts, jeers and analysis throughout the press, both paper and internet. This is a phenomenon that has prompted many more articles. It is even posible that this announcement is a smokescreen to remove weight from research underway into the way Amazon treats its employees. Personally I would be surprised if Bezos devised something as elaborate as this line of drones in such a short span of time, which provides further arguement for other articles.
Returning to the point which is the posible use of UAS. As technology becomes more accesible certainly in the case of unmanned systems, it is thus posible for applications to undergo exponential growth. Obviously this could inherently lead to the appearance of all sorts of nonsense. This, however, is not the case in my opinion. Clearly there are many downsides to the application that Bezoz says might include: what would happen in bad weather, where the packages would be delivered if your house (unlike in the promo video) has no backyard or garden, how this would be controlled etc.
Dozens of solutions can also be devised, as Bezoz demonstrates the most important: limit the packages to those that can manage it and also limit the distance to which can be delivered and so on. The important thing is to see what he and his team have actually experienced, what they can do and that it’s interesting business wise. Coming from one of the companies that dominate global logistics says a lot.
However, the future will unfortunately not take long to arrive, not because of visionaries as Bezos clearly demonstrates, but because of operating of rigid regulation bodies whose aim should be to promote and protect users and the public not advance with the times. What work is being done to see company investments in the field of UAS materialize into everyday products? There is lack of control in safely operating these unmanned systems. Advances have been made in this area but there is still a long way to go. And in times of crisis like the present, the slowing down of the potential growth sector for administrative reasons is unwelcome by all interested parties, among whom, as Bezos points out, are ordinary users.
