Amazon eyes Pony Express- like delivery

Patent shows drones using high perches as docking stations

A newly- granted SAN FRANCISCO patent gives a peek into Amazon’s vision of how drones with its Prime Air service could deliver packages across large areas. Its design sounds a lot like the 19th century Pony Express. Except, of course, its airborne. The patent, filed July 12, is for a “multi- use unmanned aerial vehicle docking station system.”

It paints a picture of flocks of unmanned vehicles whizzing out of tiny depots, carrying packages bound for a broad geographical region.

By the sound of it, instead of flying to the customer’s home, the drones would instead wing toward the final destination but then stop at the nearest docking station along that path as they get low on charge. These docking stations will be able to accommodate multiple drones and will be located high up and out of the way on cell towers, light and power poles, church steeples, office buildings, parking decks and other vertical structures.

The package could also be handed off to a fully- charged drone that would fly it closer to its final destination, performing the same hand- off in leaps of several miles, just as Pony Express riders at stations along the eastwest route handed off mail and packages to a fresh rider and horse so there was no down time.

But the most recent rules from the Federal Aviation Administration, released last month, don’t allow for package delivery. It’s also important to note that while the company has been granted the patent, that doesn’t mean it will actually implement the docking system described, merely that it now has ownership over the ideas contained in the patent.