The approval from the FAA is a milestone in Amazon’s push to use unmanned aircraft to deliver packages to global consumers. The company also has testing sites in Canada, Austria, and the U.K.
Routine drone deliveries to U.S. consumers are still years away, partly because the FAA needs to complete rules for remote identification of more than 480,000 drones currently registered for commercial operations, and issue separate rules permitting drones to fly regularly over populated areas. Amazon has now joined UPS and Wing (a unit of Google) in gaining approval to operate unmanned air fleets in the U.S. for tests involving customer deliveries. Amazon has sought regulatory approval for a broader range of drones and over a larger geographic area than its competitors.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made the ambitious prediction in 2013 that drone-delivered packages would arrive at the doors of customers in 5 years. Although the company completed its first test flight in England in 2016, the process has taken longer than Amazon expected.
Wing last year began to deliver food and other supplies to customers in Virginia. The company has been conducting tests in partnership with Walgreens and FedEx. UPS, which received FAA approval to set up an airline fleet last year, has been using its drones to carry medical supplies at a hospital network in Raleigh, N.C. Other companies such as Uber Technologies have also conducted limited drone-delivery tests in the U.S.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of this delivery approach?
- Why does Amazon wish to enhance its shipping strategy?