Amazon has received official approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use drones to deliver packages, a milestone that allows the company to expand unmanned package delivery and help bring the online retailer closer to its goal of shortening delivery times to 30 minutes or less.
What We Know:
- On Monday, the FAA said that it had issued a Part 135 air carrier certificate to Amazon, which gives the company the ability to carry property on small drones “beyond the visual line of sight” of the operator. Amazon shared that in order to get the certification it had to submit evidence of the safety of its operations and to demonstrate those operations for the agency.
- The approval gives Amazon broad privileges to “safely and efficiently deliver packages to customers,” the agency said. Although obtaining the FAA certification was an “important step,” Amazon did not say when customers could expect drones to drop packages at their doorsteps, but that it would continue to test the technology, which has been in development for years.
- David Carbon, the vice president of Prime Air, said in a statement that the certification “indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver around the world”. He added that the company would “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”.
- At a Las Vegas conference last year, Amazon revealed a fully electric hexagonal drone that could carry up to five pounds. The drone had advanced spatial awareness technology that allowed it to avoid contact with other objects, the company said. In many places, Amazon already offers one-day delivery, but the use of drones could help the company achieve CEO and founder Jeff Bezos’s goal of shortening delivery times.
- In 2013, during a 60 Minutes interview, Bezos predicted that drones would become common within five years. Seven years later, Amazon is only the third company to receive a Part 135 air carrier certificate. First was Wing Aviation, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and next was UPS Flight Forward. Neither Wing Aviation nor UPS Flight Forward has implemented drone delivery widely as yet.
Amazon did not offer a specific timeline as to when the drones will begin to make deliveries for customers, but the company said Prime Air is still testing and flying the drones to develop and refine the delivery service.
