Amazon continues to plow ahead with its Prime Air drone delivery system
Even though Amazon is facing a number of regulatory hurdles, the online retailer is still traveling full speed ahead on its Prime Air drone delivery system.
Amazon’s Paul Misener, vice president for global public policy, recently sat down with Yahoo to talk more about the program’s progress.
Buzzing ahead
If you don’t remember, Amazon wants to use drones to quickly deliver packages all over the United States. The company hopes you’ll be able to receive your package just 30 minutes after ordering. The drones will be able to deliver parcels that weigh five pounds or under – which is the majority of Amazon’s items. You’ll need to be 10 miles or more away from a distribution center to receive a package from the automated drone.
Back in late 2015, Amazon released a new video showcasing recent drone prototypes. Click here if you can’t see it.
Misener says that the company is working on different types of drones for a number of environments:
We have different prototypes we’re working on simultaneously — different kinds of drones for different kinds of delivery circumstances. Our customers in the United States live in hot, dry, dusty areas like Phoenix, but they also live in hot, wet, rainy environments like Orlando, or up in the Colorado Rockies.
Likewise, obviously, our customers live in a wide variety of buildings. Some live in rural farmhouses, some live in high-rise city skyscrapers, and then everything in between, in suburban and exurban environments. We want to be able to serve all of those customers. And it may take a different kind of a drone to best work in each one.
Wrap-up
The entire interview is definitely worth a read.
Even though the company hopes to launch the program in the United States, Misener said the company could also look at other countries for its drones. In the United States, the FAA has approved Amazon’s testing of drones, but currently commercial use of the technology isn’t legal.
For other news today, see: You have a Jack lets you decide when messages can be opened, The Force is definitely not with the worst passwords of 2015, and 5 ways Cupertino could improve content search on Apple TV.
