United Parcel Service is requesting permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for certification to begin drone deliveries. They won’t be delivering to your house any time soon.
They’re starting small, operating at night, for businesses. “The ability to use drones to deliver packages to commercial facilities. This is not meant to deliver to homes, but to facilities, plants, and manufacturers around the country,” says Parhan Eftekhari, Executive Director for the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, an American cyber-security think tank.
Drone operator might become a new career choice for a generation of video gamers with skills. “There is a difference between autonomous drones and semi-autonomous or manned drones. In this case there is a person behind this using sensors and cameras,” says Eftekhari.
The friendly skies are going to get crowded.
Amazon announced in June that they expect to begin drone deliveries in weeks, or months. They were non-committal to specifics in the announcement, but it’s been no secret that they’d devoted many resources to development for years. It seems they’ll be rolling out electric drones that can fly 15 miles delivering packages weighing up to five pounds within 30 minutes of the order being placed soon.
Google is also close to roll out.
As is DHL.
Drone deliveries, eventually breaking into the residential market after cracking the code with businesses, will be normal before too much longer.