Drones are unmanned air-borne flying objects that are a hybrid of an airplane and a helicopter and it is these that Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been trying to rope in since the last one year. Since it does appear advantageous for obvious reasons, namely faster delivery and efficient service, other companies in the same space are eyeing the technology too, the latest being Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
CNBC sought an opinion from two experts namely Lou Basenese and James Temple and both provided interesting individual perspectives on the notion. According to Lou Basenese, both companies are dominant in their respective sectors with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) being a leader in providing data and information and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) specializing in physical delivery of goods. So it is but natural for them to now make an attempt to cover the last few miles and win as many customers as possible to prove their supremacy by improving on infrastructural factors.
James Temple also reiterated that while Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an unquestionable leader in being a source of information in the virtual world, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has excelled in e-commerce and online retail wherein products and services are delivered to the customers at affordable rates. But when asked whether the introduction of drones, the so-called flying death machines, would seriously improve business or was it just a billionaire’s passing fad, he supported the former. He said that its implementation would be an important technological milestone wherein deliveries could be made ‘as the crow flies’ with impeccable accuracy and well in time.
However, there is a hitch in moving forward and that is the non-approval of Federal Aviation Administration for using drones based on security and privacy concerns. On its part, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) provided proof of these machines being employed to deliver supplies to remote spots in Bhutan and Namibia wherein it was virtually impossible to reach by any other means. But the FAA is yet to be convinced enough to give consent to its application.
Meanwhile, experiments are being conducted by Google X under the name ‘Project Wing’, a branch of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), wherein several objects have been successfully delivered to farmers in Queensland, Australia. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Dominoes have also been active in finding ways to best deliver packages to far-flung areas but in spite of all these attempts, this technology is likely to take another few years to fully develop.
The article has been written by Vinita Basu.
