Amazon took a step forward with its drone delivery ambitions this week after the Federal Aviation Administration gave the company another approval to test its Prime Air devices in the U.S.
In March, the FAA granted Amazon permission to test its drones in the U.S., but Amazon said the approved drone was obsolete as the company already had an updated device it was testing.
On Wednesday, the FAA gave Amazon the green light to test its newer drone with a specific exemption. It certainly expedited this particular request after Amazon complained that the FAA was too slow with its previous approval. Separately, the FAA announced this week that it working to help speed up regulatory approval for drone use.
“We’re pleased the FAA has granted our petition for this stage of R&D experimentation, and we look forward to working with the agency for permission to deliver Prime Air service to customers in the United States safely and soon,” Paul Misener, Amazon VP of Global Public Policy, said in a statement.
With the new two-year exemption, Amazon must limit its flights to 400 feet in altitude and the drones cannot exceed 100 miles per hour during research and development. The drone operator must also have line-of-sight vision with the device.
“In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption is in the public interest,” wrote FAA Director of Flight Standards Service John Duncan.
Late last month, Misener testified at a congressional hearing for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in Washington D.C. and expressed particular concern for the FAA’s lack of long-term planning when it comes to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
“Where we lag behind is planning for future,” Misener said. “It’s that high degree of automation, the beyond line-of-sight flying. It’s coming. The Europeans are getting ready for it; we are not so much.”
Misener said that other countries have simply been more flexible, which has allowed Amazon to innovate more quickly abroad. He said the FAA should recognize that drones are a completely different type of aircraft than what has been around for decades.
“This isn’t a 777,” he said. “This is a little device. We’d like to be able to tweak things and move quickly and innovate. We call it iteration within Amazon. That means making new changes all the time, constantly improving and perfecting. We are almost to the spot with the FAA where we can do that domestically. It’s just taken a long time to get here.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the drone delivery plan in 2013 on 60 Minutes, part of a broader effort by the company to increase delivery speeds for customers. “I know this looks like science fiction,” Bezos said at the time. “It’s not.”
