I always thought this was a terrible idea, and given that Amazon is a big tech spying machine, what will they do to monetize the camera feeds of these drones as technology improves? Could they implement ALPR AI technology? Signals intelligence? Property observation for municipalities and home price assessments for property taxes and code enforcement? Below is a news report of a person injured by drones that crashed into a crane, and the media YouTube account didn’t allow embedding. Also, I was always interested in the noise, and if you’re in the way of a major flight path it sounds pretty annoying, especially if they ramp up a lot more deliveries. And how can this be more economical over a driver and van? Or is it more about getting the public used to drones flying about and keeping an eye on society?
https://youtu.be/t3Lxd5yhBpg?si=0fj6_vX6mRZBO-fW
Amazon delivery drones have turned a Dallas suburb into a corridor of packages and noise, and some neighbors say the sound has swallowed ordinary life.
In Richardson, Texas, Prime Air drones now drop goods in as little as 30 minutes. For people under the flight path, the story is different. The sound arrives without warning—a high-pitched hum like a mosquito in a dark room—and it does not stop. “We can’t live like this,” residents told the Times.
Stephanie Puri, a video-game industry researcher, set up her own tracker. On Friday, September 18, she logged 52 Amazon Prime Air drones over her yard and called it a slow day. Three of them flew between 150 and 170 feet. Amazon told the Richardson City Council in March that the hub filled about 150 orders a day. Its FAA approval allows 1,000.
The warehouse sits less than a mile from backyard pools. Every departure can go anywhere inside a 7.5-mile radius, so the closest streets sit under every takeoff. Neighbors call it a drone highway.
Amazon told the paper that fewer than 1 percent of inquiries about the program this year concern noise. Puri does not take that as the last word on privacy. After noting that what people do in their own yards is their business, she added, “But, oh, Amazon can see you.”
The FAA answered the noise question for the country on July 28, concluding the flights do not count as a “significant impact.” The city has said it has little legal grip on airspace. An Amazon MK30 struck an apartment building in Richardson in February. Amazon later raised some outbound altitudes and shifted a few routes.