But the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority has given Amazon permission to test several key aspects of drone delivery, such as sending them beyond the sight of the operator.
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Inc said on Monday it has entered into a partnership with the British government to speed up the process for allowing small drones to makes deliveries.
Amazon has worked out a deal to start test flying delivery drones throughout Britain.
While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The first is that drones are now not allowed to be flown out of the line of sight of its pilot, which would eliminate most long-distance deliveries that Amazon would be interested in carrying out.
Therefore Amazon is working to change this to allow its drones to be operated out of a line of sight.
This technology is already installed in some drones, but this development would mean all drones flown for leisure purposes would have to comply.
Amazon’s vice president of global innovation policy and communications Paul Misener welcomed the licence to test drone technology.
“The UK is charting a path forward for drone technology that will benefit consumers, industry and society”. Prime Air’s goal is to create a delivery service that can have packages weighing up to 5 pounds delivered to customers within a 30-minute time period.
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CAA policy director Tim Johnson said: “We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system.” . Amazon hopes in the near future be able to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
