All posts tagged "prime air"

Amazon has received approval from the US Government to operate a fleet of drones to deliver customer packages. The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates aircraft and air traffic in the United States, announced today (Monday, August 31, 2020) that the retail and technology giant had won the right to “safely and efficiently deliver packages to customers.” Amazon, which claims to have already subjected its drone service to significant internal testing, as well as to have proven to the FAA that its drone-based delivery service would not pose any significant danger, announced that it now plans to begin testing drone-based deliveries to customers. Amazon initially announced in 2013 its intention to use drones for customer deliveries, and, in 2016, claimed to have delivered its first such package via a test flight in the United Kingdom. But, technology and regulatory limitations have until now prevented the wide-scale use of drones. UPS and Google-affiliated Wing both also recently received similar FAA approval, but, at least for the time being, use drones in a much more limited capacity than is expected in the near future from Amazon. Amazon’s petition to the FAA – submitted to the agency last year - stated that the firm planned to initially use drones for deliveries only for packages weighing 5 pounds of less and only in areas of the country with low population densities – so, if you live in New York City or San Francisco, for example, do not expect Amazon to be delivering packages to your apartment porch anytime soon. That said, drone-based delivery (and, eventually, pickup) is something that will become increasingly common. Society must start thinking about – and planning for – the day when there the number of delivery-related jobs for humans drops dramatically – it is possible that in the not so distant future, for example, the concept of a “mailman” or “mailwoman” will be as outdated as “the pony express.” Those who believe that we can save the US Postal Service simply by bailing it out and leaving it as is, are blinding themselves to the massive unstoppable impact of technological innovation.

All posts tagged "prime air"

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Amazon Receives US Government Approval for “Prime Air” Drone-Based Delivery – And America Is Not Prepared For The Impact

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