Amazon’s multimodal mobile drone stations
Amazon has been granted a patent for an intermodal delivery concept that envisages goods being shipped to areas of anticipated high demand onboard a train, containership or truck – and then being despatched to customers by drones which fly back and forth on their delivery runs while the train/ship/truck is still in motion. The patent was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on 16 March and published last Tuesday (1 August).
Post&Parcel readers will recall that Amazon has been pumping out the drone-related patents recently. Amongst others, we have seen patents for what the media have dubbed a “drone hive”; a drone-carrying airship; and high-rise drone relay stations.
