Amazon Files Patent For A Flying Warehouse

Your future parcels could be delivered via a giant blimp in the sky, as Amazon has filed a patent for massive flying warehouses with working fleets of drones.

Expanding on their work in delivery drones – currently being tested in Cambridge - Amazon says these “airborne fulfilment centres” could be located near festivals or sporting events, where they could sell souvenirs or food to spectators.

These AFCs would hover at altitude up to 14,000m (45,000ft), and use practically no power as they glide down to areas for deliveries. To keep it stocked, Shuttles (smaller airships) will replenish the inventory, while providing UAVs, supplies, fuel and even transport workers to fix anything.

This, of course, would allow them to deliver goods much more quickly than dispatching from ground-based warehouses.

Most surprisingly, this Patent was filed way back in December 22, 2014. It’s taken over two years for it to be unearthed – the lucky explorer being Zoe Leavitt from CB Insights, who found & tweeted it.

Questions we have no idea about at the moment – is this just a proof-of-concept, or is it already being worked on? What are the fail safes (if any)? What does this mean for airspace laws? Will the public like the idea – or will people be terrified by what Zoe named the “Death Star of Ecommerce?”

Guess we’ll find out, but it’s definitely futuristic…