Amazon’s Delivery Drones Are Taking Off Next Year

Amazon Prime Air has been talked about for years, but never seems to quite get in the air. All that is changing, though, as Amazon has clearance to start testing delivery methods early next year, courtesy of the UK government.

UK aviation authorities have granted Amazon several important permissions they’ve been seeking, but haven’t gotten, from the FAA. First, the drones will be able to fly beyond the pilot’s line of sight, obviously rather important when you’re flying packages out constantly. Pilots will also be able to control more than one drone at a time in some tests. Amazon also got permission to test obstacle avoidance systems and to test in both rural and suburban areas. Flight paths and urban areas are still off limits, as the craft have a 400-foot ceiling, more than enough to get into trouble.

The craft can only deliver objects that are five pounds or less, but that’s nearly 90% of the stuff they ship. And the majority of that is going to suburban or rural areas in the first place. So, in theory at least, Amazon could build shipping centers with fleets of drones buzzing in and out all day. There are some questions Amazon will still need to answer, like what happens when one of these things inevitably falls out of the sky and smashes a car windshield, or what happens when some inattentive employee puts dangerous chemicals on a drone for delivery. But we’ll fly over those bridges when we come to them.

(Via CNN)

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