Future: Amazon to use drones for delivery

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos has revealed that the largest online retailer in the world is testing unmanned drones that would be used to deliver light products in a short period of time to customers.

Mr. Bezos revealed this to CBS television’s 60 Minutes programme. “I know this looks like science fiction, but it’s not,” Bezos said of the drones which are also called octocopters.

Amazon Prime Air. Picture: Amazon

“We can do half-hour delivery… and we can carry objects we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg) which covers 86% of the items we deliver.”

However, the service which is expected to be named Prime Air will not be coming to Amazon’s customers soon. Amazon posted a video of the drone on its website and answered some questions that may come to consumers’ mind about the service.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) doesn’t have a regulation that allows the use of unmanned drones at the moment and this technology will have to wait until the FAA rules and regulation will be adjusted.

Amazon thinks this could happen as soon as 2015 but Mr. Jeff Bezos thinks it could be viable in about four to five years time. “We hope the FAA’s rules will be in place as early as sometime in 2015. We will be ready at that time.” Amazon revealed.

The FAA has already approved the use of drones by police and government agencies. It is expected that the same opportunity will be granted to civilians in the US by 2015 and Europe by 2016.

The worry about civilians using drones has been about the safety of the people on ground. It must be certain that drones will not be crashing into civilians’ heads before it is allowed.

Amazon has a promise though: “One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today.”

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