On July 25th, US Eastern Time, Amazon announced that it had officially agreed with the British government to test its delivery drones. The cross-government team supported by the British Civil Aviation Authority will license Amazon to test in 3 key drone technology areas:
Over-the-horizon operations in rural and urban suburbs (this is currently not allowed by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States)
Test sensor performance to ensure drones can identify and avoid obstacles
Multiple highly automated drone flights operated by a single person
These tests will be conducted in the air below 400 feet.
In the announcement, Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global innovation policy and communications, said: “The UK has a leading position in drone innovation, and we have been conducting research and development of Prime Air for a long time here. This formal The announcement strengthens our partnership with the British government and brings Amazon closer to the drone's goal of safe delivery within 30 minutes."
Previously, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States recently announced a consumer drone usage specification. The specification indicates that only sight-line operation is allowed, which means that drone delivery service is not allowed. In this way, Amazon turned to seek drone trials in other countries. Britain is one of them. Amazon's Prime Air department has been testing drones in the UK for some time and has already had bases there. In addition, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also recently revealed that in addition to Canada, Amazon is also testing its drones in the Netherlands.
Speaking of the United Kingdom, Liam Maxwell, a former national technical adviser to the British government, mentioned that the United Kingdom is one of the most active countries in the testing of new automation technologies like drones, and Amazon is only testing similar products in the UK. "One of many large companies."
Amazon is currently testing drones weighing less than 25 kg, flying at a speed of over 50 miles per hour, 10 miles outside the line of sight, and of course, must be under 400 feet in height. Daniel Buchmueller, co-founder of the Amazon Cambridge drone project, said: "A lot of goods are small and light, and we can efficiently use small drones to deliver 2kg packages to our customers in 30 minutes or less."
Although this cooperation did not clearly indicate that it will allow Amazon drones to begin delivery services in the UK, for Amazon, this is a key step towards realizing its blueprint for drone delivery.
Via TC