Coming soon to a doorstep near you: flying robots from Amazon that deliver packages to your front door.
The Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) officially designated the e-commerce giant an “air carrier” on Monday, giving Amazon the green light to test their drone delivery system. Amazon wants to deliver packages in some areas by drone within 30 minutes of a placed order.
This is another win for Amazon as it continues to dominate online shopping.
And you thought two-day shipping with Amazon Prime was good.
An Amazon spokesperson claims the company will reduce shipping times to minutes instead of days. Just click the “buy” button.
“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” Prime Air vice president David Carbon said in a statement.
The company will “work closely with the FAA and other regulators around the world to realize our vision of 30-minute delivery,” he added.
Now that the FAA has granted Amazon an “air carrier certificate” it will begin testing customer deliveries with its drone fleet.
The drones, which are still under development, are restricted by a 5-pound weight limit. Sorry, no jacuzzis.
The interception of Amazon packages business is a brisk business.
The Amazon porch pirates have graduated to package poachers, shooting down drones making deliveries.
Amazon, which is headquartered in the United Anarchists Republic of Seattle, made its first successful drone delivery on December 7, 2016, when it delivered an Amazon Fire TV remote and a bag of popcorn to a family in Cambridge, England. I know what you’re thinking – it would have been so much cooler if they delivered a puppy.
Lest you think Amazon will blot out the sun with a sea of delivery drones, the company still faces many regulatory hurdles despite the FAA’s approval.
Right now a nationwide drone delivery program simply doesn’t make financial sense for Amazon. For one, U.S. regulations don’t currently allow for completely autonomous flights – which is what Amazon would need in order to profitably rely on drones for regular deliveries.
Amazon’s Washington D.C. lobby shop is already hard at work trying to get a loophole or a waiver so that they can schedule their drone’s routes and let them fly without human pilots watching their every move.
Another FFA hurdle is that the FAA simply doesn’t have an existing regulatory body that could oversee and track low-altitude air traffic drone flights. There are no rules on the books to prevent drones from careening into aircraft and disturbing ground activities, such as interfering with car traffic.
Of course, the world’s smartest hooded sweatshirts in Silicon Valley are saying drones will revolutionize commerce. Imagine you’re traveling for work and feel compelled to buy dental floss, Instead of driving to the convenience store, you can simply have your floss delivered by drone in fifteen minutes.
Or you’re making dinner for the family, but you’re all out of Crisco (you really should be using olive oil). One-click of a button and – voilà! – Amazon drone to the rescue.
In the end, an effective drone delivery service would mean only one thing: Amazon’s further consolidation of brick-and-mortar retail into Amazon’s e-commerce market maw.
Jeff Bezos broke a record in August: the Amazon CEO hit ow the first person to a net worth of over $200 billion, according to Forbes. At this point, Bezos is just dancing in the endzone.
Silicon Valley’ is strange.
Between 1883 and 1929, a total of 2,509 public libraries were built thanks to steel magnate Andrew Carnegie’s largesse.
Meanwhile, in 2018, Amazon paid $0 in U.S. federal income tax on more than $11 billion in profits before taxes.
