Amazon tests drone deliveries in the UK after clashing with US authorities
Amazon granted permission to explore flying drones beyond the line of sight of operations and testing sensors to see if they can identify and avoid obstacles
Amazon has partnered with the UK government to test drones in Britain's rural and suburban areas, a move which aims to bring the unmanned flying machines closer to being used for deliveries, the US e-commerce giant said.
The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK's aviation watchdog, has granted Amazon permission to explore "three key innovations":
• Flying drones beyond the line of sight of operations
• Testing sensors on the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to see if they can identify and avoid obstacles
• Flight where one person controls a number of drones
Currently, flying drones out of the line of sight of the operator is illegal in the UK and in the US, something that has pretty much blocked Amazon's attempts to deliver parcels via drone.
"The UK is a leader in enabling drone innovation – we've been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time," Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global innovation policy and communications, said.
"This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world."
Exact details on how the system would work are still unclear. In principle, a drone would pick up a parcel from a warehouse, fly it over to a hoe or business and drop it off. But patents granted to Amazon recently show that the system could potentially be more complex.