Patrick Caughill for Futurism:  Amazon is taking a page out of the spy genre in a newly-patented feature for its future fleet of delivery drones. Filings for a patentgranted to the internet retailer show a self-destructing drone that is able to strategically disassemble in the air during an emergency to mitigate any potential damage from an otherwise fully-formed delivery drone, or as the patent describes it, “direct fragmentation for unmanned airborne vehicles.”

Perhaps the self-destructing drones will find a home in the recently-patented hive-like structure approved this past summer.

While programming a self-destruct sequence may seem like a curious safety feature, having a crashing drone break into pieces before impact can reduce the chances for significant property damage or injury to people on the ground. The feature would use the onboard computing system to analyze conditions to determine the best course of action.  Full Article: