Amazon seeks FAA permission to test drones outdoors near Seattle
-
Upload
whimsicalardor605 -
Category
Documents
-
view
34 -
download
1
Transcript of Amazon seeks FAA permission to test drones outdoors near Seattle
Amazon seeks FAA permission to test drones outdoors nearSeattle
By Deepa Seetharaman
SAN FRANCISCO Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:01am EDT
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos discusses his company's new Fire smartphone at a news conference inSeattle, Washington June 18, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Redmond
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is seeking permission from U.S. regulators to test itsdelivery drones near Seattle, as part of a rapid expansion of a program that has sparked widespreaddebate over the safety and privacy implications of drone technology.
Chief Executive Jeff Bezos wants to use drones - small unmanned aircraft - to deliver packages in 30minutes or less as part of the program dubbed "Prime Air." The company is developing drones that
can fly at speeds of 50 miles per hour.
Now Amazon is seeking permission to test drones in outdoor areas near Seattle, where one of itsresearch and development labs is working on the technology, according to a letter posted on theFederal Aviation Administration's website on Thursday.
Currently Amazon can test drones indoors and in other countries. But it cannot conduct R&D flighttests in open outdoor space in the state of Washington, where Amazon has its headquarters.
"Of course, Amazon would prefer to keep the focus, jobs and investment of this important researchand development initiative in the United States," the company said in the letter, dated July 9 andsigned by Paul Misener, head of global public policy for Amazon.
In 2012, Congress required the FAA to establish a road map for the broader use of drones. The FAAhas allowed limited use of drones in the U.S. for surveillance, law enforcement, atmosphericresearch and other applications.
Last year, the U.S. government created six sites for companies, universities and others to testdrones for broader commercial use in Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas, and Virginia.
But the area near Seattle, where Amazon wants to conduct its tests, is not among those sites.Amazon plans to use one or more of the six FAA sites, but said in the letter that it would be"impractical" to limit its testing to those areas.
CEO Bezos, who founded Amazon 20 years ago, disclosed the "Prime Air" drone program on the CBStelevision program "60 Minutes" late last year. His plan was derided by some as a mere publicitystunt, while others raised privacy concerns and said the technology needed more refinement.
Despite the controversy, Amazon has rapidly grown the drones team in the last five months. It hashired roboticists, aeronautical engineers and a former NASA astronaut, and recently advertised for afull-time communications manager for the program.
Delivering packages by drones will one day be "as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today,"Amazon said in the July 9 letter.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Reprints