Amazon Gets Green Light to Test Drone Delivery Service in the U.S.
Obtaining air carrier status from the FAA.
Yesterday, Amazon‘s Prime Air service finally became certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an “air carrier,” which will now allow the company to begin commercial drone delivery trials in the U.S. using its hexagonal hybrid drone it showed off earlier last year.
“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 Amazon.
With this new certification, Amazon will be joining the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Wing as well as United Parcel Service Inc. as companies with FAA approval. Aside from confirming that it would run its own delivery tests, however, Amazon hasn’t commented on when or where they’ll take place. It’s also notable that widespread commercial drone delivery may still be a few years out, as the FAA is currently still working on defining regulations for the industry beyond just the trial phase.
Elsewhere in tech, Cranfield has released a $170,000 USD Formula 1 simulator.
