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posted by martyb on Sunday May 10 2015, @01:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the also-supported-by-beekeepers dept.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may be relaxing its hard-nosed approach to commercial drones. Amazon in particular recently complained that the FAA took so long to approve drone test flights that the approved hardware was already outdated.

The two biggest companies seeking to use drones for package delivery say U.S. regulators have suddenly become more receptive to their efforts, a potential boost to the chances of success for one of the burgeoning technology's most promising commercial uses. Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. say they have noticed the sharp shift in attitude in recent weeks on critical issues such as drone test flights.

In an apparent sign of the recent shift in attitude, the Federal Aviation Administration plans on Wednesday to announce an initiative to study drone flights beyond the sight of the operator, according to a person familiar with the agency's plans. The agency thus far has virtually banned such flights, including for research, and proposed rules earlier this year that would prohibit them.

"Honestly in the last two to three weeks, things have made a dramatic change," Dave Vos, head of Google's delivery-drone project, said Tuesday at a drone conference. "Three to four months ago, we were a little bit concerned about how much progress we could make here in the U.S., but... what we're seeing today is significant opportunity to work here in the U.S. with the FAA."

[More after the break...]

The BBC reports that a patent application has emerged, revealing details of Amazon's planned delivery drones:

According to the patent, the drones will be able to track the location of the person it is delivering to by pulling data from their smartphone. The unmanned vehicles will also be able to talk to each other about weather and traffic conditions. According to the plans, Amazon's drones will be able to update their routes in real-time. A mock-up delivery screen suggests that people will be able to choose from a variety of delivery options — from "bring it to me" to nominating their home, place of work or even "my boat" as places for packages to be dropped. Last month car maker Audi said that it would be trying out package delivery to the boot of its cars with Amazon and DHL.

Other details revealed include: Amazon will employ a variety of unmanned vehicles depending on the shape and weight of the product. Flight sensors, radar, sonar, cameras and infrared sensors will be employed to ensure safe landing zones are found. The unmanned vehicle would constantly monitor its path for humans or other animals and modify navigation to avoid such obstacles.

 
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