Rules ensure that Amazon hardly delivers packages by drone

Amazon has delivered packages by drone to about ten addresses in the US with its new Prime Air service in the past month. Rules regarding the use of drones prevent Amazon from deploying the drones at more addresses.

Amazon must occasionally request permission to use a drone by delivery from the Federal Aviation Administration, the US aviation authority, reports The Information. The company would have liked to see the FAA relax the rules, but so far that hasn’t happened. As a result, the drones are not allowed to fly above roads or groups of people, for example.

As a result, Amazon has so far been able to use its drones for delivery to only ten addresses, the site says after speaking with those involved. Amazon started Prime Air a little over a month ago. These are the small towns of Lockeford and College Station. With the recent round of layoffs Amazon sent according to CNBC many employees who worked on Prime Air are gone.

Last June, Amazon announced the pilot. Two months later, the company received FAA approval to use drones for package delivery. The maximum payload of the drones is 2.2kg. Amazon says 85 percent of its shipments fall under that weight.

Amazon uses a hexagonal MK27-2 delivery drone with six propellers. At the moment, the company is mainly focused on safe transit. The drones fly independently and use algorithms to avoid obstacles such as power lines and chimneys, while Amazon employees keep an eye on deliveries.

Amazon Prime Air drone