It appears drone delivery services in the United States are only a pipe dream. A set of proposed rules for small commercial drones from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA states drones must remain within the line-of-sight of the operator, essentially limiting the range of drone aircraft to a few hundred feet.
Nice knowing ya, Amazon Prime Air.
Sayonara Lakemaid Beer drone. Well, Lakemaid’s drone was actually grounded in 2014, but the owner was confident he’d get the service back up and running. Looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon.
And it doesn’t make any sense. Drones have successfully – and safely – delivered all kinds of goods all over the world. Alibaba recently used a drone to deliver tea in China, a pizza shop in Russia made a 30-minute delivery by drone, and a drone in South Africa dropped off beer to concertgoers.
You get the picture. Amazon has come out against the limitations that would prevent Prime Air and other drone delivery services from taking off by saying, “the FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers.”
The proposed rules are only a draft at this point, and they will be open for public commentary for 60 days once published in the Federal Register. “This is not the last word, by any means,” says FAA chief Michael Huerta.
So when all is said and done, drone delivery services might be permitted, but Amazon Prime Air and others need your help. If you’re in favor of drone delivery, make sure you express your opinion. If you’re against drone delivery, we’ve compiled videos of drones safely delivering pizza, beer, dry cleaning and more that should be reason enough to convert you to the dark side.
Click here for Watch: 10 Reasons You Need Drone Delivery.
