Amazon has received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly longer distances with its delivery drones, the company said. Announced Thursday. Amazon says it can now expand its Prime Air service, which uses delivery drones to deliver individual packages, to more customers.
The FAA requires operators to maintain a line of sight to their drones until it approves technology that can safely monitor and control them without images. Amazon says it spent years developing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) technology for its drones to ensure they can detect and avoid obstacles in the air.
The company showed off the technology to FAA inspectors to demonstrate that its drones can navigate safely away from planes, helicopters and hot air balloons.
The announcement comes after Alphabet’s Wing received a waiver from the FAA last December to fly its drones beyond line of sight.
in a Press releaseAmazon said the approval allows it to “serve more customers via drones and effectively expand and scale.” [its] drone delivery operations.” Amazon will begin expanding its drone delivery operations in College Station, Texas, to reach customers in more densely populated areas. The company also plans to integrate drone deliveries into its same-day delivery network later this year.
Amazon says it needed FAA approval to achieve its goal of using drones to deliver 500 million packages a year by the end of this decade.
The announcement comes a month after Amazon confirmed that it was End Prime Air drone deliveries in Lockeford, California. The city was the company’s second drone delivery site in the United States, after College Station. Amazon did not offer details about why it was ceasing drone delivery operations in the area, but it did announce that it would begin drone deliveries in Tolleson, Arizona, later this year.
Amazon is not the only technology company that makes deliveries with drones, since Walmart introduced Wing drone deliveries to limited supermarkets last year. Other companies working with Wing for drone deliveries include Walgreens and DoorDash.