Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon (AMZN), escorted Charlie Rose last December into a secret R & D room to show off the future of Amazon Prime Air – delivery of items in 30-minutes or less by drones. The Amazon octocopters will pick up packages in buckets at Amazon’s fulfillment centers and fly through the air to deliver items to individual customers in select cities.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was charged by Congress to clear U.S. skies by September 2015. The U.S. government has designated six sites where tests can be conducted for commercial drone applications—in Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia—but such tests are currently prohibited in the Seattle area.
According to Amazon, its team of roboticists, scientists, aeronautical engineers and a former astronaut have been testing its drones indoors or in other countries because of the FAA’s rules.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, Amazon is asking the Federal Aviation Administration permission to test their drones in Seattle skies as part of its plan to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less.