Retail giant Walmart recently filed a patent for a blimp-like aircraft to deploy drones. The patent Walmart filed is similar to a patent Amazon filed last year (Photo from USPTO)
Walmart and Amazon have been fighting each other to dominate online shopping for the past few years and things are about to get uglier. Walmart recently applied for a U.S. patent for a floating warehouse allowing them to make deliveries via drones. It would then bring the products from the aircraft to the homes of shoppers.
The aircraft, similar to a blimp, would fly as high as 500 to 1,000 feet and would house multiple launching bays while being operated autonomously or by a remote human pilot. It will also have the ability to talk with a scheduling system that tells when the drones should grab packages and deliver them to their final destination. As you can guess, the idea isn’t all that new. Amazon filed for a similar patent in April 2016. In another attempt to rival Amazon, Walmart filed another patent last year for a system similar to Amazon’s Dash buttons allowing to reorder goods in one click.
The floating warehouses would be a big win for both Amazon and Walmart. These aircraft allow them to reach a wider distribution area than they currently can. The airborne vehicle can drive to different towns releasing drones for deliveries and having them return to the vessel and restock. It not only allows the retail giants to reach more people, but it proves to be more efficient than having drones fly back to a central distribution hub.
But as always, there are the drawbacks to think about. With all this talk of delivery drones and floating warehouses, it’s easy to think the skies are going to be crowded. And we still have to keep in mind aircraft zooming around on a daily basis. Not mention many delivery drones are already finding it difficult to get approval in the States. Then again, it’s not guaranteed to happen just because the company filed a patent.
Even though great strides have been made in researching and executing delivery drones, it feels like we’re a long way from seeing it happen, at least in the States. People are still uncomfortable with the idea of a drone having their information and delivering their goods. States around the country are worried about factors, like costs, privacy, and security issues. So, we may not have to worry about over populated skies just yet. I was looking forward to a steampunk, dirigible cluttered future. Oh well.
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