On Tuesday, at a conference in Mountain View, California, at NASA's Ames Research Center, Amazon announced their plans to create rules governing the operation of commercial drones.
More than one year ago, Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, announced Prime Air, a revolutionary drone delivery service for its customers. Since then we have yet to see a flying Amazon drone making a live delivery. However, on Tuesday the company moved one step closer with their plans by proposing rules and procedures for the safe operation of commercial drones.
The vice president of Amazon Prime Air, Gur Kimchi, laid out the vision of the online retailer on how unmanned aerial vehicles would be able to fly while avoiding buildings, birds, planes and other obstacles. This is actually Kimchi's first public address as chief of Amazon's drone program. He exposed a broad operating framework for the emerging drone industry.
Before his speech, in an interview with Forbes, Amazon Prime Air's vice president compared the development of the drone industry to the early days of the internet. Same way as the internet was built as an open-ended platform, Kimchi said, with drones now we are seeing something similar. You can be interoperable as long as you implement the protocols and follow the rules, the Amazon Prime Air vice president added.
However, Kimchi thinks that companies and UAV operators are still not cooperating enough to ensure a safe environment. This is the reason why Amazon suggested certain standards. The regulation would be centered on the segregation of airspace below 500 feet and imposing a set of rules for drones to follow for flying. For instance, in this space below 500 feet, drone flights would automated controlled in real time by connecting them to online networks where they will directly communicate with each other.
In its proposal, Amazon suggested that the airspace between 400 and 500 feet altitude should be designed as no-fly zone and the drones should fly between the ground and 400 feet. In Amazon's vision, the airspace below 200 feet would be reserved for "low speed localized traffic". There drones would be used to shoot videos, scan bridges and map agriculture fields. This could also be the airspace used by drones to complete the final stages of their deliveries by landing near homes and dropping off packages.
Between 200 and 400 feet the airspace would be reserved for a kind of drone highway where the autonomous aerial vehicles would travel at high-speeds. Drones will communicate with one another and be equipped with sense-and-avoid technologies that ensure flight safety by allowing them to dodge potential hazards and other vehicles.
In a recent attempt to regulate commercial drones, FAA put forth draft legislation in Feb, but Amazon's proposals are much more ambitious. Since the government aviation body suggested that commercial unmanned aerial vehicles should only fly within the plain view of a licensed operator and during the day, these restrictions would make drone delivery nearly impossible. Time will tell if Amazon's proposed rules will prevail.
