Amazon has designed a new drone which can self-destruct in case of an emergency. This sounds like something out of a spy movie, but Amazon has reasons for this new design.  The drone will be built to use an on-board computer system, which will detect the safest course of action and strategically disassembles itself while in flight. The reason for this feature is to guard against bad weather conditions, equipment malfunctions, or in case of an emergency. It will reduce the chances of the drone crashing into objects or people.

Basically, the drone will be intelligent enough to set its own flight path and determine the most suitable location to break into smaller fragments. The path chosen will reduce the potential of inflicting any harm upon a crowd of people or cars and homes. Usually, a field or a lake will be the target.  Amazon just got its patent approved in October and hopes that its fleet of delivery drones will all be equipped with this new technology. It is good to see how much Amazon is investing in drone research and development.

What is the point of self-destructing drones?

Consider this, if something goes wrong and a drones starts making a downward spiral, disassembling in mid-air will reduce the impending impact. Once it self destructs, the smaller fragments that will help to ensure that damage to a property or person is reduced.  The on-board computer system will analyze the conditions on the ground and take the best course of action. Saving lives is the most attractive feature of a self-destructing drones. Some people have been against drones because of their fear it may cause during an accident.

Even though Amazon has received the patent for its self-destructing drones, this does not mean that the development of this technology is underway. Even if development has begun, it’s unclear what the timeline will be and when the drones will be up in the air.

It is possible that the patent is just to cover Amazon’s bases for when the company decides to develop it further.  Several years ago Amazon first made their intention public to use drones for delivery. And up until now, this technology has only been made available to the UK market. The company has slowly been refining and improving its drone delivery technology. So now that they have been granted a patent for self-destructing drones, we wonder how long this will take before we see these drones in the air.

This patent comes after Amazon filed one earlier this year for parachuting packages from the sky. The concept of drone delivery is evolving, and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store.