More than 500 Bryan-College Station residents viewed an Amazon Prime Air drone in person during a Welcome Break-Fest, hosted by Amazon, on Saturday morning at the Green in Century Square in College Station.
Guests were treated with Amazon Prime Air swag bags, free food and drinks, and many arts and craft activities for children and featured live music while a dozen Amazon Prime Air representatives answered questions about the drone.
One of the many attendees was Benjamin Kalscheur of Bryan who, after viewing the drone, said he has safety concerns due to the size of the drone.
“I definitely am worried about what could happen if something went wrong,” he said at the viewing. “I heard it was to be delivered in backyards, so that makes me a little nervous, but it is really interesting. It is going to help with reducing emissions in our community and I think that will be a really important thing with less traffic on the road … and it is going to bring a lot of jobs to the community.”
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Despite the added benefits of the drone emitting less pollution in the air, Kalscheur said he mainly had concerns about it breaking down.
“I was worried it could fall on someone’s child, what if it went through my roof?” he said. “I haven’t asked yet, but I am sure there was a lot of extensive testing; but this is still a trial ground and it will be interesting to see it. Despite my safety issues, I think it is going to be a really exciting thing to have in the community.”
Mataliia Sviazimska of College Station will not be able to request drone service because she lives in an apartment complex, however she said she wanted to see what the drone looked like in person.
“This drone is so interesting and the fact that College Station, Texas, was chosen to start up this project and test it out in a local area, is pretty amazing by itself,” she said.
Every piece of technology gets extensively tested in all possible situations before it goes through the air, Sviazimska said.
“All of the possible situations are laid out before it goes into the air; before it goes to delivery. I am sure as many risks as possible were tested and that this thing is as reliable as possible,” she said. “Drones don’t just fall from the sky all the time. There are smaller drones and they don’t fall from the sky, so why would this one? It is bigger, but it has the engines that are meant to hold this bigger thing in the sky.”
Daniel Martin, an Amazon Prime Air spokesperson based in Texas, said community members were enthusiastic.
“It has been great to see everybody bring their kids and grandparents and everyone having fun,” he said. “People have asked a lot of questions like, ‘Am I eligible?’ ‘Are you delivering to my neighborhood?’ ‘What if my dog is in the backyard?’” he said. “When we talked about holding community events and being transparent, this is exactly what we envisioned, by engaging and asking questions. … I think we have been doing our best job at being transparent and addressing those questions and concerns and taking their feedback to heart.”
Jeremy Li of the Woodland Hills subdivision in College Station, and his wife, Wanhe, had differing opinions of the drone.
“I think this is all very exciting, but it is a little scary as well,” Jeremy said. “The first thing is safety. What if anything happens with any kind of breakdown, either dropping it or it dropping by itself? … Another concern is privacy. I am sure that thing has plenty of cameras around it; and when it is flying around I don’t know if they would collect that kind of information. I have those concerns and I hope they get addressed for the safety of my kids.”
Despite his worries, Jeremy said the drones are also inspirational because it shows how far technology is progressing. Wanhe also said the technology is innovating and is excited at the new possibilities.
“I am all for it. I think there is no resistance for technology development,” Wanhe said. “I work for Texas A&M and I run a laboratory there, and I hope all of the supplies can be delivered by the drone one day.”
Martin said they will begin servicing customers with drone delivery later this year, and they will host another community event next month.
“We are going to try to hold these events monthly throughout the rest of the year as we get this program up and running,” he said. “Whether we are donating books to a local elementary school or donating food to the local Brazos Valley Foodbank or holding community events like this, I think the perception of Amazon overall has been really enthusiastic and we look forward to growing our partnership with this community.”
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