Amazon Proposes Drone Highway As It Readies For Flying Package Delivery


Amazon laid out plans to create a set of rules to govern the operation of commercial drones at a conference on Tuesday. (Photo:

It's been well over a year since CEO Jeff Bezos announced Prime Air, a drone delivery service that was supposed to revolutionize how his company would send packages to its customers. While the world has yet to see a flying Amazon robot make a live delivery, the company moved one step closer to that vision by proposing procedures for the safe operation of its drones and others on Tuesday.

During a conference at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., Gur Kimchi, vice president of Amazon Prime Air, laid out the online retailer's vision for how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would be able to fly while avoiding planes, buildings and other obstacles. Kimchi's first public address as head of Amazon's drone program introduced a broad operating framework for the developing drone industry, which he compared to the early days of the internet in an interview with FORBES before his speech.

"When [the internet] was turned on, people didn't think about Facebook or Google or Amazon," said Kimchi. "It was built as an open-ended platform. The model could support any type of application. As long as you followed the rules and implemented the protocols, you were interoperable. We're seeing something similar now [with drones.]"

Kimchi, however, doesn't believe that UAV operators and companies are currently cooperating enough to create a safe environment. Because of this, Amazon suggested certain standards, centered on the segregation of airspace below 500 feet where drones would follow set rules for flying. In this space, drones would be connected to online networks and would directly communicate with each other, allowing for the automated control of flights in real time.

"The key here is to simplify the airspace, not complicate it," said Kimchi, who noted that most manned aircraft fly at altitudes above 500 feet.

Amazon proposed a segregated airspace below 500 feet for the operation of drones on Tuesday. (Photo:

In its proposal, Amazon suggested that drones fly between the ground and 400 feet, with the airspace between 400 and 500 feet of altitude and around airports designated as no-fly zones. Areas below 200 feet would be reserved for so-called "low speed localized traffic" where UAVs could be used to map agriculture fields, scan bridges or shoot videos. Potentially, that could also be the airspace where drones would be completing the final stages of their deliveries, landing near homes to drop off packages.

The areas between 200 and 400 feet would be reserved for a sort of drone highway. UAVs in this 200-foot range would likely be traveling autonomously at high-speeds and out of the line-of-sight of any operator. Because of this, drones will need to be able to communicate with one another, said Kimchi, and be equipped with standardized sense-and-avoid technologies that will allow them to dodge other vehicles and potential hazards like birds and tall buildings.

Amazon's proposals, which it published in a pair of white papers, are much more ambitious than what the FAA put forth in a recent attempt to draft commercial drone rules in February. In that draft legislation, the government aviation body suggested that commercial drones only be able to fly during the day and within the plain view of a licensed operator from the ground--two restrictions that make viable drone delivery nearly impossible. Last June, the FAA said that it expects to have formal regulations to govern UAVs within 12 months.

It's unclear whether Amazon Prime Air will be ready when the FAA unveils its final rules, or even if the governing flight body will allow for drone delivery. Kimchi wouldn't comment on program specifics and declined to give a timeline for its development and unveiling. The former Microsoft engineer, who has been working on Prime Air since at least June of 2013 according to his LinkedIn, only said that he is focused on safety: "Our application can only be safe if everyone else is safe."

He cited a recent example of a Southern California wildfire where helicopter firefighting operations were momentarily halted due to the presence of five civilian-operated drones in the area that were trying to take pictures of the blaze. If the industry is able to standardize technology and communications, said Kimchi, the helicopter's air traffic control in the future would be able to communicate with the drones and tell them to land or create a real-time no-fly zone where the UAVs were no longer able to enter.

As for public opinion, Kimchi noted that just like with any new technology, people have many different beliefs.

"It's our job to demonstrate that we can operate safely and in the testing we're doing in our program, we like the results we see," he said, pointing to the company's operations in places like the United Kingdom and Canada. "That's why we're able to open up the kimono and speak more publicly."

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