In a major milestone for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ plans to achieve dramatically reduced delivery times, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designated Amazon Prime Air an “air carrier.”
The company will use the hexagon-shaped next-gen hybrid drone, sources revealed. However, Amazon has not yet revealed when or where it would start its commercial delivery trials.
“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” Prime Air Vice-President David Carbon said.
The retail behemoth made its first successful drone delivery in 2016 in Cambridge, England.
Amazon said its team has now put the drones through “thorough testing” to refine their autonomous systems.
