We know that Amazon has had plans to use drones to help with the delivery of packages. The good news is that the company can now start doing so, at least on a trial basis as the FAA has basically given their approval and has granted the company an “air carrier” designation. This means that Amazon can now conduct trials for commercial drone delivery.According to David Carbon, an Amazon vice president, “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.”
There is no word on when or where these trials will begin, but as the Bloomberg report points out, Amazon has test sites over in the Northwest as well as Vancouver, so it is possible that the trials might begin there. However, these are only trials which means that it could still be a few years before we see it actually become a mainstay service, if at all.
Amazon is not alone in the idea of using drones to deliver products. Given that drones can skip all the traffic and go straight to their destinations, it could be useful to deliver products that are relatively nearby. It would also be a lot quicker, although there are limitations as drones need to be recharged and also they can’t carry items that are too heavy.
Filed in . Read more about Amazon, Drones and Faa. Source: bloomberg