Amazon gets patent for Pony Express-like drone delivery

An illustration from a patent filed by Amazon on July 21, 2016 for a multi-use drone docking station. SAN FRANCISCO -- A newly-granted patent gives a peek into Amazon's vision of how drones with its Prime Air service could deliver packages across large areas, and it looks a lot like the old Pony Express. The patent, filed July 12, is for a "Multi-use unmanned aerial vehicle docking station system." It paints a picture of flocks of unmanned aerial vehicles whizzing out of depots carrying packages bound for a broad geographical region. By the sound of it, instead of flying all the way to the customer's home the drones would instead wing their way towards the final destination but then stop at the nearest docking station along that path as they get low on charge.