All companies are looking to improve their deliveries using vans, drones, robots, etc ... or combinations of several vehicles that are related to each other and together they are able to deliver to customers in a more efficient way.
Amazon is the undisputed leader in online sales and home delivery. Until now it uses vans for its delivery of orders although it is also testing deliveries with drones.
Recently a patent application has appeared that has been published in the media, and in it Amazon proposes a combined delivery of its products using vans or cars, which in turn control robots and / or drones to make the final delivery at the home of the customer.
The aim is for the delivery vans to bring drones with them to carry out the last meters of the delivery taking the product to the customer. That way the drone needs fewer sensors and is therefore simpler and cheaper.
The drone only has to communicate with the van that is close to it, and travel a few dozen meters to make the delivery. You can see a diagram below
Amazon has published this drawing in which you can see a delivery van, which in turn loads the delivery on to a robot (it could be a drone) to take it to the customer's house.
In the same way, the van could carry several robots and make several deliveries in places close to it. The operator only has to load the robots and issue the "orders" for delivery, thereby increasing efficiency.
This is an idea that has been patented and after a certain time it will be seen if it is put into practice or not, but the idea is not bad. And in my opinion the most important thing is the “spirit” of Amazon to innovate in a task that is already very efficient.
Companies that want to be at the forefront of the market must always be thinking of continuous improvement. And Amazon is a good example of this.
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