DESPITE spending US$2 billion assembling a team of 1,000, US online retail giant amazon has fallen well short of drone delivery plans it promised in 2013.
Back then Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos pledged to fill the skies with drones in five years, delivering parcels to customers' homes in 30 minutes.
A Bloomberg investigation reveals a programme beset with technical problems, high staff turnover and safety concerns.
A serious crash in June prompted federal regulators to question the drone's airworthiness because multiple safety features failed and the machine careened out of control, causing a brush fire.
'With rigorous testing like this, we expect these types of events to occur, and we apply the learnings from each flight towards improving safety,' said Amazon spokesman Av Zammit.
'No one has ever been injured or harmed as a result of these flights, and each test is done in compliance with regulations,' said Mr Zammit.
Amazon plans to ramp up testing in the coming months, having missed the goal of conducting 2,500 test flights last year, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
The company has set an even loftier target of 12,000 for 2022 - although fewer than 200 had been completed as of late February. The company plans to add new testing locations this year in College Station, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Austin, and Lockeford, California, near Stockton.
Amazon also hopes to start testing drones beyond the sight of flight observers, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, a key step toward proving their ability to fly autonomously.
It will be years before the Federal Aviation Administration approves commercial drone deliveries, although the agency is letting companies conduct test flights in increasingly populated areas so long as they don't pose significant safety risks.
SeaNews Turkey
Back then Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos pledged to fill the skies with drones in five years, delivering parcels to customers' homes in 30 minutes.
A Bloomberg investigation reveals a programme beset with technical problems, high staff turnover and safety concerns.
A serious crash in June prompted federal regulators to question the drone's airworthiness because multiple safety features failed and the machine careened out of control, causing a brush fire.
'With rigorous testing like this, we expect these types of events to occur, and we apply the learnings from each flight towards improving safety,' said Amazon spokesman Av Zammit.
'No one has ever been injured or harmed as a result of these flights, and each test is done in compliance with regulations,' said Mr Zammit.
Amazon plans to ramp up testing in the coming months, having missed the goal of conducting 2,500 test flights last year, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
The company has set an even loftier target of 12,000 for 2022 - although fewer than 200 had been completed as of late February. The company plans to add new testing locations this year in College Station, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Austin, and Lockeford, California, near Stockton.
Amazon also hopes to start testing drones beyond the sight of flight observers, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, a key step toward proving their ability to fly autonomously.
It will be years before the Federal Aviation Administration approves commercial drone deliveries, although the agency is letting companies conduct test flights in increasingly populated areas so long as they don't pose significant safety risks.
SeaNews Turkey