Amazon is already actively experimenting with drone deliveries, and the company is apparently eyeing a futuristic next step: giant airborne warehouses.
Amazon patented the plans for the floating warehouses, hinting at giant aspirations for the company's fledgling drone delivery program. The patent describes an "airborne fulfillment center utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles for item delivery," with the intent of being a kind of "mothership" for a fleet of drones.
According to the plans, the warehouses would hover at heights of 45,000 feet: "Additional, smaller airships would be used to return the drones back to the [airborne fulfillment center], resupply the mothership with more inventory and fuel, and shuttle workers to the flying factory," The Verge writes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For the time being, the plans remain in a patent stage without a timeline for rollout.
-
The 5 best singers turned actors of all timethe week recommends It's not often that someone is born with both of these rare skill sets
-
'This is exactly what technology should be doing'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Black women are being pushed out of the workforce en masseIN THE SPOTLIGHT Employment data shows hundreds of thousands of Black women have left the labor market over the past few months. What's behind this mass exodus?
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
