Amazon The company said on Tuesday it had received regulatory approval to start flying smaller, quieter delivery drones, the latest step in a long-running effort to launch this future project.
The company launched a new drone called the MK30 in November 2022.
Amazon said the FAA’s approval includes allowing the MK30 to fly longer distances and beyond the pilot’s line of sight. The agency granted a similar exemption to Amazon’s Prime Air program in May, although that was limited to flights in College Station, Texas, one of the cities where the agency has been conducting testing.
In addition to receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Prime Air director of regulatory affairs Matt McCardle explain The company began drone deliveries near Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday. In April, Amazon said it planned to launch a drone operation in Tolleson, west of Phoenix, after closing its early test site in Rockford, California. The company will dispatch drones near a warehouse in Tolleson as it looks to integrate Prime Air more closely into its existing logistics network and further speed up deliveries.
An FAA spokesman said the agency approved Amazon’s beyond visual line-of-sight delivery at Tolleson on Oct. 31.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos First announced plan For the ambitious service launched more than a decade ago, it was said at the time that the scheme could be up and running within five years. Although Amazon has invested billions of dollars in the program, progress has been slow. Last year, Prime Air hit regulatory hurdles, missed deadlines and cut jobs while Chief Executive Andy Jassy aggressively cut costs. The program has also lost a number of key management personnel, including its primary liaison with the FAA and its founding leader. Amazon hires ex boeing company Chief Executive Officer David Carbon runs the business.
It has also encountered pushback from some residents in cities where it has experimented with drone deliveries. Residents of the college town complained about noise levels enough to prompt the city’s mayor to address the issues in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration, CNBC previously reported. In response, Amazon executives told residents that the company would identify a new launch site for drone delivery by October 2025.
Amazon isn’t the only company trying to break into drone delivery. It competes with Wing, owned by Google’s parent company letter, ups, Walmart and numerous startups including Zipline and Matternet.
watch: How Amazon’s drone delivery plan stacks up against rivals
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