Amazon files patent to deploy exclusive drones in India

It appears that online retail giant Amazon aims to introduce drone technology in India as it has filed a patent application for exclusive rights on multi-scale fiducials, which are marks on any object to help aerial vehicles to identify them from different places.

Amazon Prime Air is a delivery system designed to deliver packages to customers within 30 minutes, using small drones. A video was also posted on the company's website showing the use of drone technology for the safe delivery of packages to its customers.

In June, Amazon had filed a patent application in India for a technology which might ensure that automated aerial vehicles (AAVs) do not hit humans or animals while delivering packages. The AAV could also communicate with other such air-borne objects in the area and share information related to obstacles and weather conditions.

"For example, if a dog approaches the AAV as it is landing, and the dog enters the safety perimeter of one of the propellers of the AAV, a safety profile is automatically performed so that the animal is not harmed by the propeller," it said in the specifications filed for the previous patent application.

However, the filing of all these patent applications does not mean that the company may get an approval for a said innovation and its commercial use in India.

Besides, Amazon has also been filing various patents for drone technology in other parts of the world.

In August this year, the Seattle-headquartered company has filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a land-based, mobile network that could act as both a roving warehouse to carry inventory and as a traveling maintenance shop for a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles.

But, experts feel that there’s a world of difference between that and flying these vehicles overcrowded city streets.

"We are working with regulators and policymakers in various countries in order to make Prime Air a reality for our customers across the globe," stated Amazon on its website.