Just recently, the popular online retailing giant showed off the company's newest member, a seemingly harmless unmanned drone designed to enhance Amazon's delivery timeframe. Dubbed as PrimeAir, the small aircraft will give Amazon the competitive edge against other digital marketplaces and will help them create a thinner gap from the time-threshold advantage that their counterparts in traditional retailing still enjoy.
Currently, Amazon is allowed to test their drones indoors and even in other countries. The drones are said to be on their eighth and ninth generation with a flying speed that can reach a maximum of 50 miles per hour.
However, the company cannot conduct test flights in open outdoor places in the U.S. Washington state where the company's headquarters are based. Though Amazon has already announced that the PrimeAir service will be available in December, it cannot fully take off until the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has devised a scheme to regulate the commercial use of unmanned aircrafts.
In 2012, the FAA was summoned by Congress to create a road map that would broaden the use of drones. As a response, the FAA has allowed drones to roam the U.S. skies only for purposes of enforcing the law, conducting atmospheric research, and surveillance.
However, the U.S. government named only six sites where testing drones for commercial usage can be allowed. These are Alaska, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Virginia, and Texas.
The Seattle area, where one of Amazon's research and development labs for the drone technology is based, is obviously not included in the list. Amazon is therefore asking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to test their drones in outdoor spaces in Seattle. If allowed, the company would be able to innovate and test new designs more efficiently without the hassle of traveling every now and then to the six approved sites of the FAA.
"We want to do more research and development close to home," said by VP Paul Misener of Global Public Policy. "Of course, Amazon would prefer to keep the focus, jobs and investment of this important research and development initiative in the United States," said Mr. Misener in a letter dated as July 9.
"We believe customers will love it, and we are committed to making PrimeAir available to customers worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so," added by Mr. Misener in the letter. "One day, seeing Amazon PrimeAir will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today, resulting in enormous benefits for consumers across the nation."
