Amazon Prime Air
- The Federal Aviation Administration granted permission for Amazon to begin delivery drone operations.
- Amazon Prime Air has existed since 2013 and began testing deliveries in June 2019.
- The goal of the program is to deliver certain items by drone in under 30 minutes.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted Amazon permission to fly its fleet of Prime Air drones. An FAA spokesperson confirmed the ruling to Business Insider, stating that the retail giant got an air carrier certificate allowing "unmanned aircraft systems," on August 29.
The Prime Air drone project began in 2013, and last June the FAA granted permission for Amazon to test drones in the US. "We will continue to develop and refine our technology to fully integrate delivery drones into the airspace, and work closely with the FAA and other regulators around the world to realize our vision of 30-minute delivery," Amazon Prime Air Vice President David Carbon said in a statement.
Take a look at the new drones that could soon be delivering packages across the US.
Amazon's fleet of drones has already put in thousands of flight hours.Amazon Prime AirThey have a sense-and-avoid system that helps avoid obstacles like wires or chimneys using machine learning and artificial intelligence.Amazon Prime Air
Amazon has not said when drones will roll out for regular deliveries, but in tests they have been used to deliver packages in under 30 minutesAmazon Prime Air
Amazon has a few different drone models, optimized for different types of deliveries .Amazon Prime Air
The newest model, seen here, can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour, and deliver packages up to five pounds.Amazon Prime Air
Source: Business Insider
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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SEE ALSO: FAA clears Amazon's fleet of Prime Air drones for liftoff