Amazon's Delivery Drones Won't Fly In Arizona's Summer Heat (wired.com) 24
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Amazon plans to start flying delivery drones in Arizona this year -- but don't count on them to bring you a refreshing drink on a hot day. The hexacopter can't operate when temperatures top 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, the company says, and average daily highs exceed that for three months of the year in Tolleson, the city outside Phoenix where Amazon is preparing to offer aerial deliveries from inside a 7.5-mile radius. The drones can't help with midnight snacks either, because they'll be grounded after sunset. Potentially being inoperable for a quarter of the year might make launching drone deliveries in Tolleson and neighboring desert communities seem like an odd choice. It's far from the first challenge faced by Amazon's much-delayed drone project. The unit is years behind its goals of flying items to customers in under an hour on a regular basis, and a one-time target of 500 million deliveries by 2030 seems distant. Amazon Prime Air has completed just thousands of deliveries, falling behind rivals; Alphabet subsidiary Wing has notched hundreds of thousands of delivery flights and Walmart more than 20,000.
In the California wine country town of Lockeford, where Amazon initially launched drone deliveries, some residents told WIRED last year that they ordered only because Amazon lured them with gift cards. In Arizona, it could be discouraging not being able to rely on drones during those hours when one might not want to venture too far from the comfort of air conditioning. [...] That temperature and other environmental conditions could ground or hamper the drone industry has been known for years. A team from University of Calgary's geography department estimated that on average across the world, drones with limitations similar to Amazon's, including from weather and daylight, would be limited to flying about 2 hours a day. In the world's 100 most populous cities, the average daily flight time would be 6 hours. "Weather is an important and poorly resolved factor that may affect ambitions to expand drone operations," they wrote in a study published in 2021. Heat, in particular, forces motors to work harder to keep drones aloft, and their batteries are only so powerful.
In the California wine country town of Lockeford, where Amazon initially launched drone deliveries, some residents told WIRED last year that they ordered only because Amazon lured them with gift cards. In Arizona, it could be discouraging not being able to rely on drones during those hours when one might not want to venture too far from the comfort of air conditioning. [...] That temperature and other environmental conditions could ground or hamper the drone industry has been known for years. A team from University of Calgary's geography department estimated that on average across the world, drones with limitations similar to Amazon's, including from weather and daylight, would be limited to flying about 2 hours a day. In the world's 100 most populous cities, the average daily flight time would be 6 hours. "Weather is an important and poorly resolved factor that may affect ambitions to expand drone operations," they wrote in a study published in 2021. Heat, in particular, forces motors to work harder to keep drones aloft, and their batteries are only so powerful.
Can not say I blame them (Score:2)
What's the Matter? (Score:4, Funny)
Why don't you just let AI solve it for you? What's the problem?
Re: (Score:2)
We are going to find this happening more and more, and AI seems to be part of the problem due to the massive amounts of energy it consumes. As climate change bites and temperatures get more extreme, a lot of tech that can't cope with >40C is going to fail.
There are mitigations, but they add cost.
Re: (Score:2)
Why don't you just let AI solve it for you? What's the problem?
I get the joke but here's the technical explanation. Arizona is hot and high. Meaning temperature and altitude. As any pilot or sports car enthusiast knows, heat affects air density, cooler air provides better combustion as it's denser (more O2), Altitude also affects air density, which is why turbo cars perform worse in higher altitudes, there is simply less air (and less O2) to be drawn in so they compensate by mixing in more fuel. With aircraft you've also got the effect of air density on lift as wings
Suspensors (Score:3)
Sounds like drone delivery won't really be viable until Amazon invents gravity-nullifying suspensor fields. Better get cracking!
Re: (Score:2)
Also, the other item evoked was how lots of UFOphiles claim that the government has anti
Re: (Score:2)
Also, the other item evoked was how lots of UFOphiles claim that the government has anti-gravity generators salvaged from crashed spaceships. I wish they'd share, since it'd sure make building cars easier. Maybe they already regulated them out of existence and I just wasn't paying attention.
Maybe the salvaged generators are plentiful but require a ZPM?
Personally, I'd find it surprising if, assuming UFO's exist and are from outer space, they had anti-grav. They would have traveled across/over/around/through a TON of space to get here, and I doubt anti-grav would be needed on the trip - they just need to fly in our atmosphere once they get here. It'd make more sense if there was some spacetime bubble or something they used for the long distance jumps that would also allow them to use it to zoom
Re: (Score:2)
don't paint em black (Score:1)
There's paint that can get it below ambient:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r... [sciencedaily.com]
https://www.smithsonianmag.com... [smithsonianmag.com]
But for a drone flying through hot air, the heat transfer from the air to the drone might still be too high. Like flying in a hair dryer air stream.
Re: (Score:2)
If the temperature is too hot, the density of the air is thinner and helicopters can't lift as much.
Noise (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Noise (Score:3)
Pity their town's zoning didn't prevent Amazon from building a freakin airport in their neighborhood... I would have thought the neighbors would have stopped this when Amazon tried to rezone the land as a heliport for their delivery drones...
Re: (Score:2)
It might rise to the level of 'mistake' if the neighbors manage to get a suitably punchy judgement and some combination of damages and being forced to modify or terminate operations ends up costing more than it would have to just put the drone site off in the sticks somewhere originally; but it's not like Bezos cares wheth
Oh, so much drama! (Score:2)
In Arizona, it could be discouraging not being able to rely on drones during those hours when one might not want to venture too far from the comfort of air conditioning.
What the hell? Has Amazon sold off all their delivery truck, so since the drones aren't flying in the heat customers won't be able to get their deliveries (GASP!) until tomorrow?!?!
The horror...
How much wind to ground them? (Score:2)
It's howling outside at the moment which prompted the thought, how much wind can they handle and still safely fly?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah:
Can't fly at night
Can't fly in the rain
Can't fly in the wind
Can't fly in the heat of day
I really don't see how these things will put a van driver on minimum wage out of a job any time soon!
Exact opposite of the US Postal Service Creed (Score:4, Funny)
For delivery drones it's more like "if it's not raining or snowing or hailing or windy or dark or foggy or real hot or too cold or too far or someone has a BB run or real gun and it's not too far then maybe you'll get a package if it's not too big or heavy. Maybe."
so which one? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Living at 7,000' / 2134 M, found out 10 years ago that cheap drones for my kid were kinda useless here.
Re: (Score:2)
A buddy of mine in Edmonton drives a Tesla. He's never had a problem with it due to winter weather. Of course, maybe you don't think it gets cold in Edmonton.
Not Fast Enough (Score:2)
Still waiting for Rocket Drone delivery. The sound of an explosion near your house means the remains of an order is scattered about.