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Amazon and British aviation authorities have reached agreement on a series of tests of drones designed to deliver packages to customers.
The new drone tests will include operations beyond the line-of-sight of the operator, which currently is prohibited in the United States. Other tests will include sensor performance to test whether the drones can see and avoid obstacles, and tests on how well one operator can control multiple drones.
Amazon plans to try out a number of different drone designs and delivery mechanisms, said Kristen Kish, an Amazon spokesperson. However, she wasn’t willing to go into too many details about the company’s research. “What I can say is that it brings us one step closer to realizing this amazing innovation for our customers,” she added in an email to eWEEK.
“Some of the testing will start right away,” Kish said. “We’ve been investing in Prime Air research and development in the U.K. for quite a while now and these tests are just a natural progression of our activities.”
So far such testing has not been possible in the United States. The FAA released its latest commercial drone rules last month and, while the rules do allow drone freight delivery, they don’t currently allow operations beyond the line of sight. Reached for details about Amazon’s drone delivery research, FAA spokesperson Alison Duquette told eWEEK that the agency also is working on ways to further the commercial use of unmanned aircraft.
“We are now working with industry on a rule that would allow flights over people,” Duquette said. “And we’re continuing to work with our industry partners on the research and testing needed to safely move beyond line-of-sight operations.”
The new rules for commercial drone use in the United States that allow operations beyond the previous limits go into effect Aug. 29. However, the FAA hasn’t established a time frame for when it might establish rules that allow operations beyond the line of sight.
However, the U.K.’s CAA is moving quickly. According to a statement by Amazon announcing the agreement, the CAA and Amazon are approaching this as a research partnership.
“This groundbreaking work will help Amazon and the government understand how drones can be used safely and reliably in the logistics industry,” the announcement said. “It will also help identify what operating rules and safety regulations will be needed to help move the drone industry forward.”
Statements by the CAA indicate the Amazon tests will be used to help set policy for the use of drones beyond line of sight and for purposes including delivery. Ultimately, the research findings will be used to develop regulations for future drone use.
“We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system,” said Tim Johnson, CAA policy director, in a prepared statement provided by Amazon to eWEEK. “These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach.”
UK Approves Amazon Plan to Run Delivery Drone Tests Banned in U.S.
The FAA’s slowness to move forward on drone rules isn’t standing in Amazon’s way. The company has operations in many areas outside the United States, and while the U.K. is the first place where such testing is allowed, it’s clear it won’t be the last.
“We are working with regulators and policymakers in many countries in order to make Prime Air a reality for our customers and expect to continue to do so,” Kish said in an email.
Amazon isn’t saying exactly where the new drone tests will take place in the U.K., nor is it specifying what it will test. What’s clear is that Amazon is determined to implement unmanned delivery one way or the other as a way to improve service and cut costs. The company already is openly discussing order deliveries in 30 minutes or less in suburban or rural areas.
Here in the United States, where airborne drone delivery seems to be on long-term hold, another solution is about to start testing in urban areas. In fact, the city council of Washington, D.C., has already approved tests of a ground-based delivery drone from a company called Starship. The company will start testing its wheeled robots in Washington Sept. 15 and continue them through the end of 2017.
The advantage of those ground-based autonomous vehicles (or whatever it is that we’ll eventually call those wheeled devices) is that the FAA—or, for that matter, the federal government—isn’t involved. Instead, private companies can petition local and state governments to get permission to operate and those local governments need only to incorporate those devices into local traffic laws.
While it’s not fair to suggest that the U.S. government is holding back all research in the area of autonomous operations—after all, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was a leader in the development of autonomous vehicles—the FAA has been slow to move. The agency is rightfully concerned about the safety of flight, but in the process it has held back all development in areas where some testing could be accommodated.
While it’s understandable why the FAA is reluctant to allow drone testing in Washington, given the risks involved and the high density of air traffic, it would seem that there are areas of the United States where this sort of testing could be encouraged. There are already some defined drone test areas around the United States that are intended by the FAA for similar purposes. So far, however, it doesn’t appear the agency is prepared to test much in the way of advanced drone operations.
For the time being, at least, we in the United States are going to have to watch freight drone development from afar—or, at least, watch it trundle along some city sidewalks. It’s understandable that the FAA is responsible for the safety of the airspace in the United States, but the same agency is also responsible for the development of aviation, and it seems an abundance of caution has negated that function.