Amazon's Drones Gets Key Approval, Can Now Fly Farther to More Customers

The Associated Press reports that U.S. federal regulators "have given Amazon key permission that will allow it to expand its drone delivery program, the company announced Thursday."In a blog post published on its website, Seattle-based Amazon said that the Federal Aviation Administration has given its Prime Air delivery service the OK to operate drones "beyond visual line of sight," removing a barrier that has prevented its drones from traveling longer distances. With the approval, Amazon pilots can now operate drones remotely without seeing it with their own eyes. An FAA spokesperson said the approval applies to College Station, Texas, where the company launched drone deliveries in late 2022. Amazon said its planning to immediately scale its operations in that city in an effort to reach customers in more densely populated areas. It says the approval from regulators also "lays the foundation" to scale its operations to more locations around the country... Amazon, which has sought this permission for years, said it received approval from regulators after developing a strategy that ensures its drones could detect and avoid obstacles in the air. Furthermore, the company said it submitted other engineering information to the FAA and conducted flight demonstrations in front of federal inspectors. Those demonstrations were also done "in the presence of real planes, helicopters, and a hot air balloon to demonstrate how the drone safely navigated away from each of them," Amazon said. The article also points out that by the end of the decade, Amazon "has a goal of delivering 500 million packages by drone every year." To achieve this, Amazon said in its blog post, "we knew we had to design a system capable of serving highly populated areas and that was safer than driving to the store."

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