Netflix Drone 2 Home Spoofs Amazon PrimeAir With DVD Snark
Amazon's PrimeAir drone delivery concept has received its fair share of scorn, but Netflix has waited until now to weigh in with a little snark of its own. The company commissioned a spoof promo reel for "Netflix Drone 2 Home" to show at its annual meeting for the DVD team, starting out usefully dropping DVD rentals into your lap after they're added to your queue, but as you might expect, things don't go entirely smoothly.
The system, Netflix suggests, would dispatch a DVD moments after you add it to the rental queue, and use GPS tracking on your phone to deliver it. That's whether you're in the park, at work, out camping, or even in the bathroom.
Netflix's promo concedes that they may be a few issues along the way – often involving crashing and burning – but argues that's the price you pay after doing "hours" of testing.
Amazon PrimeAir was met with skepticism and confusion when the online retailer suggested it could have tiny remotely-controlled drones delivering smaller purchases within a few years time. Some praised the idea – notably Bill Gates – while others, such as eBay's CEO, dismissed it as "fantasy".
Whether hoax or real idea, FAA regulations look unlikely to allow private drone deliveries any time soon, with use of the skies for autonomous and remotely-controlled vehicles still something in question. The FAA is planning trials at test sites around the US to see how drone technology could safely co-exist with planes.
The Drone 2 Home video, meanwhile, was created for Netflix by ChoiceWay Media, which more commonly does promo content that's a little more serious. No word on what Amazon's Jeff Bezos thinks of it all.
VIA Hacking Netflix