Amazon Customers Get One Step Closer to Drone Deliveries in US

Drone operators will be allowed to fly drones beyond where they can see them

Amazon drone delivery
A still image from an Amazon video shows a drone dropping a small package. Amazon

Amazon says it has been given approval from regulators to fly drones farther and deliver goods to more customers.

The company says the Federal Aviation Administration has given it permission to operate its drones beyond the sight on its operator, allowing the expansion of drone delivery.

The company says it has developed a system to allow the drone to detect and avoid other things in the air to improve safety.

They say the technology took years to develop, test and refine before the FAA gave it permission to use it to make deliveries.

The company said in a blog post that it had flown a drone in the presence of real planes, helicopters and a hot air balloon to demonstrate to regulators how the drone safely navigated away from each of them.

That doesn't mean you should expect a drone to make deliveries to you anytime soon.

Amazon is only using drones in College Station, Texas right now. It started delivery service there in 2022. The new FAA approval will allow the delivery zone to increase now that drones can fly beyond the sight of the operator.

The company's Prime Air team is working to create a safe and scalable way to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using highly autonomous drones.

It hopes to use drones to deliver 500 million packages a year by the end of this decade.

Tags
Amazon, Drone, Texas
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