Going underground

Another day, another Amazon delivery patent… A trawl through US Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO) database by techno-journalists has unearthed another Amazon patent for a futurist delivery concept. But this patent is not drone-related; instead, it is for a “dedicated network  delivery system” which uses underground tunnels, conveyor belts and rails to bring parcels to online shoppers.

This particular patent – number US 9,505,559 B1 – was filed back in May 2014 and granted on 29 November 2016.

As with Amazon’s other recent delivery-related patents – the air-borne warehouses, the deliver drone relay stations, the drone protection systems – a filing with the US PTO does not mean that the online giant is planning to go into immediate production with these ideas. But Amazon is putting down markers, and the patents do indicate the possible directions in which Amazon believes delivery technology may be heading.