In one small step for man, (“º Play Audio) and one slightly bigger step for Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer giant is putting its money where it’s mouth is, teaming up with other drone makers to lobby lawmakers on the company’s plan to one day use small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver goods straight to the customer’s door step.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first broached the idea publicly during an appearance last year on . The concept, frankly, seemed like science fiction to many Americans who could not picture a small flying device dropping off stuff on their front porch.
Now, according to a post in USA Today, Amazon has announced it’s taking a concrete step to persuade the government that drone-deliveries will soon be the real deal:
You are not likely to get a Prime Air drop on your porch anytime this year, or even next, but the online retailer, which announced plans for drone delivery last December on 60 Minutes, is making moves to spur development.
Amazon recently banded together with several makers of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to create a coalition to speed federal action. And the e-tailer is also buttressing its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.
“Amazon Prime Air is participating in several groups … that share Congress’ goal of getting small UAVs flying commercially in the United States safely and soon,” said Paul Misener, the company’s vice president of global public policy.
Amazon, apparently, is getting just as frustrated as other companies are with the federal government’s slow plodding as it tries to decide how to regulate a brand new transportation-and-delivery system that’s practically chomping at the bit to be set free across this great land of ours. As USA Today points out, the problem with regulating the use of private and corporate drones over America’s skies is that it’s tough to know which agency should really be in charge in the first place:
Such efforts are needed because the advance of commercial drones covers a swath of federal agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, which governs airspace, and the Federal Communications Commission, with oversight of communications frequencies drones would use. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy also has rules in the works regarding privacy.
“This is uncharted territory,” says Chris Anderson, co-founder of drone maker . His firm joined Amazon, and in founding the coalition. The group aims to represent commercial uses of drones, establish a code of conduct and educate the public about benefits of the technology, he says.
Amazon’s interest “lets people realize how big it can be,” Anderson says. “They have a well-established presence in Washington and they were able to kick-start the mechanics of this coalition so we could quickly join and get moving.”
Congress has charged the FAA with developing rules to test and integrate dronesinto the airspace. But a report that Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel delivered to Congress in February said the FAA will unlikely meet a September 2015 deadline set by Congress.
Credit: AFP/Getty Images
