Amazon took one giant leap toward getting packages delivered by drone to people across the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration granted Amazon’s Prime Air, the shipping giant’s drone delivery fleet, approval on Monday to begin operations. The approval allows Amazon to “safely and efficiently deliver packages to customers,” according to the agency.
“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” said David Carbon, vice president of Prime Air. “We will continue to develop and refine our technology to fully integrate delivery drones into the airspace, and work closely with the FAA and other regulators around the world to realize our vision of 30 minute delivery.”
Amazon has been testing its drone delivery system since 2013. The approval granted by the Trump administration clears Amazon to use drones for delivery “beyond the visual line of sight” of the operator.
It will likely be a while before drone deliveries become commonplace as the FAA is still creating regulations and guidelines for commercial drone flights. The FAA is working to develop a low-altitude tracking system. The administration is also finalizing regulations for the use of drones over crowds.
Under the latest FAA approval, Amazon will continue testing its drone deliveries on a small scale until the agency has completed its regulatory plan for widespread deliveries. This includes regulations that would mandate that drones emit identifying signals to minimize the risk of terrorism and help regulators identify the machines. The FAA is also finalizing regulations to determine acceptable drone noise-levels.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Amazon must also hammer out some logistical issues to allow for drones to be efficiently operated on pre-programmed routes without human operators.
Google, UPS, and Amazon are the only three companies to receive this primary approval for drone deliveries by the FAA for their drone programs.
