Another day, another case of robots flying in and just taking human jobs with spectacular ease.
Following from Amazon’s much buzzed-about Prime Air trial, Australia Post said it wants a piece of the quad-copter pie by announcing plans for drone delivery too in Oz too. The trial, set for next year, will work with an online retailer AusPost head Ahmed Famour described as a “major customer”.
But who could that possibly be…
The drone announcement is part of the broader Australia Post Accelerator program, a branch of the company that Famour says is focused on innovation in ecommerce. The program was hit with a $20M funding hit yesterday, and other plans include installing 3D printers at post offices around the country. The future is now, people.
All of this, of course, is because the rise of online communication tore out Australia Post’s poor little heart – and its main income stream, too. Famour hopes jumping on the latest tech developments will keep AusPost ahead of the next curve, because “as the letter goes down, the usage, then so do we… As Australians migrate and become more digitally aware, we want to change with them.”
The drones are set to carry parcels weighing up to two kilograms and can travel 25 kilometres. As cool as that may sound, our hearts go out to the classic Aussie postie bike – may they continue to ride on the sidewalks in Valhalla.
