On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it received FAA approval to begin operating a smaller, quieter version of its delivery drone, another milestone in Amazon’s efforts to literally get its drone program off the ground.
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| Other drone makers are facing similar barriers. Those include Wing, owned by Google parent Alphabet, UPS, Walmart, and startups such as Zipline and Matternet. |
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The company unveiled its latest drone design, which goes by the name of MK30, in late 2022. At the time, Amazon said the new model would fly through light rain and have twice the range of earlier models, among other improvements.
Amazon said the approval from the FAA includes permission to fly the MK30 over longer distances zand – critically - beyond the visual line of sight of pilots.
That requirement of course significantly limited deployment of drones.
According to a report from CNBC, the FAA granted a similar waiver for Amazon’s Prime Air program in May. However, the OK was limited to flights in College Station, Texas, one of the cities where Amazon has been conducting tests.
Amazon’s Matt McCardle, in charge or regulatory affairs for Amazon Prime Air, noted that the Amazon was set to start making drone deliveries this week near Phoenix.
Alongside the FAA approval, Matt McCardle, head of regulatory affairs for Prime Air, said the company is starting to make drone deliveries near Phoenix this week after it shuttered an earlier test site in Lockeford, California.
Amazon will launch the drones near one of its warehouses in Tolleson, a Phoenix suburb, “as it looks to integrate Prime Air more closely into its existing logistics network and further speed up deliveries,” according to CNBC.
The FAA said it granted Amazon permission to conduct beyond visual line of sight deliveries in Tolleson on October 31.
The Amazon MK30
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It was all the way back in 2013 that on a 60 Minutes program, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced the company’s plans for drone delivery.
At the time, Bezos said the drone program could be up and running within five years.
“Despite Amazon investing billions of dollars into the program, progress has been slow,” CNBC noted.
Prime Air has encountered regulatory hurdles and missed deadlines. Last year, it had layoffs in the unit, driven by broad-based cost-cutting efforts by CEO Andy Jassy.
Amazon has also encountered resistance from some residents in the cities where it is trialing drone deliveries over noise levels.
Other drone makers are facing similar barriers. Those include Wing, owned by Google parent Alphabet, UPS, Walmart, and startups such as Zipline and Matternet.
The drone era is surely coming. It’s just taking a long time to get here.
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