A cross-government team supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has provided Amazon with permission to explore three key innovations: beyond line-of-sight operations in rural and suburban areas, testing sensor performance to make sure the drones can identify and avoid obstacles, and flights where one person operates multiple highly-automated drones.

“The UK is a leader in enabling drone innovation – we’ve been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global innovation policy and communications. “This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world.”

This ground-breaking work will help Amazon and the government understand how drones can be used safely and reliably in the logistics industry. It will also help identify what operating rules and safety regulations will be needed to help move the drone industry forward.

Prime Air is a future delivery system designed to safely get packages up to five pounds to customers in 30 minutes or less using small drones.

Source: Amazon