Amazon and UK government to partner on delivery drone tests

Amazon and UK government to partner on delivery drone tests
By Euronews
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Amazon and the British government are to partner on tests of small delivery drones to see how they could be safely flown in the UK.

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Amazon and the British government have announced a partnership to speed up the process for allowing small drones to makes deliveries.

A cross-government team – supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – has given the necessary permissions for trials.

The CAA’s Policy Director Tim Johnson said: “These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach.”

Amazon said they will test how drones function when out of sight of operators, see how they can identify and avoid obstacles and check how operators can fly multiple drones at the same time.

That would be a significant relaxation of the CAA’s current policy.

Amazon #PrimeAir announces new program with UK to test drone delivery technology https://t.co/ASDOISRLLt#Innovationpic.twitter.com/WCJsuhih1Z

— Amazon Policy (@amazon_policy) July 25, 2016

The US Federal Aviation Administration recently announced operational rules, including that operators of delivery drones have to keep them in sight at all times, which would block the kind of delivery service that Amazon wants.

Wal-Mart said last month it was six to nine months from beginning to use drones to check warehouse inventories in the United States.

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