The use of drones in e-commerce activities has been the talk of the town for quite some time but has been held back from implementation due to Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulatory policies. Amazon has been at the forefront of this technology’s introduction as it will revolutionize the delivery process by shortening the whole process from day(s) to virtually minutes. Drones are also cheap, fast and efficient in delivering the ordered products right to the customer’s doorstep, but FAA has been creating some bottlenecks in their approval past the prototype stage. It also imposed several restrictions on the flight pattern of these drones.
FAA gave the e-commerce giant a no-objection-certificate six months ago and the company has been trying them out at certain locations in both Britain and US. While the previous drones were waiting for clearance, a new and improved drone was picked up by Amazon and the same time around, FAA gave green light to the earlier model. Amazon asked the government to allow the trial of the new drone instead and now the government has finally obliged.
Amazon’s drone can carry up to 5 pounds and the company stated that 86% of the total number of orders that Amazon delivers weigh less than 5 pounds so, we can see why Amazon is keen on drones more than anybody else. The federal authority imposed certain restrictions on such drone operations. They can achieve a maximum height of 400 feet and go no faster than 100 miles per hour. These restrictions were placed due to the urban environment. However, there are more concerns shown by the public towards the usage of drones including safety and privacy matters that need to be addressed.
But Amazon has pushed forward such usage and it has regularly blasted regulators of being slow in their approval. It claims that nowhere else have they been made to wait this long for approval and they warn that US might fall behind in this field if barriers like these continue to hinder its growth. The FAA further stated that the start of such service could be delayed till 2016 or 2017 due to the various risks involved.
Have a look at this promotional video