The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized the delivery of drones by Amazon Prime Air in the U.S. territory.
The courier that will deliver Amazon parcels to us in a few years could fly and have wings. The Federal Aviation Administration – FAA, the U.S. Department of Transportation agency responsible for regulating all aspects of civil aviation – has granted Amazon Prime Air authorization for commercial delivery by drones throughout the U.S. territory. This is a very important step forward. the document (certification 135) authorizes Jeff Bezos’ company to make deliveries by means of flying devices that can also proceed “out of the pilot’s sight”. Thanks to the FAA go-ahead, Amazon will be able to start a test program that will allow drones to fly on routes per-programmed and without the supervision of human pilots. The tests will also serve, of course, to develop effective engineering solutions to ensure the integrity of the delivered packages and the safety of the recipient. To see a drone delivering an Amazon parcel on its doorstep, US citizens will have to wait a few more months.
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Amazon Prime Air: Drones deliveries are now underway
Amazon Prime Air is the Amazon department entirely dedicated to research and development on “flying packages”. Already in 2013, Jeff Bezos – the founder of the world’s most widely used market-place – had published a video showing his ideas on the future of logistics: deliveries entirely processed and managed by drones. The video had caused a media stir because it seemed to project into a science-fiction future. After 7 years, instead, Bezos’ futuristic ideas could become reality. “This certification is a very important step forward for Prime Air,” said David Carbon, vice president of Amazon and superintendent of Prime Air, “and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operational and safety procedures for an autonomous delivery service with drones. I am sure that one day not far away we will deliver parcels to our customers around the world via drones.
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