On December 2nd, 2013, Amazon.com announced that it was testing unmanned drones as a means of delivering its packages. The goal would be to get packages to their customers within 30 minutes or less. The service would be called Prime Air and Amazon.com hopes to have it up and running in about 4 years.
On December 30th, 2013, the FAA announced that it would allow drone testing by six sites that include universities and state agencies across the country. The plan is to target everything from federal certification of the safety of the drones to the reliability of air to ground communications, and verifying of new low cost sensors that are designed to prevent mid air collisions.
The idea, going forward, is to have unmanned aircraft flying commercially in the US by 2015. Meanwhile, the sites that were chosen are expected to attract economic development. The Unmanned Vehicle Systems International projects that the industry will create 100,000 jobs and generate $82 billion in the decade after the aircraft are allowed to fly.
The above sounds good for Amazon.com. However, it might be a good idea for UPS and FedEx to begin getting their fleet ready, as it appears that the future of package delivery is about to make a dramatic shift.
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