Amazon has made its first Prime Air delivery in the UK. The company has posted a video online of the “full autonomous – no human pilot”, thirteen minute journey.

The video shows footage of the parcel being delivered to a ‘Richard B’ of ‘Cambridgeshire, England’ on the 7th December.

As we have previously reported at Apex Insight, the UK’s CAA has made allowances for fully automated delivery drones that can fly beyond the line of sight of the operator. The US FAA has been far more conservative than this and as such it has opened the doors for the likes of Amazon to test their most cutting edge technologies in the UK and potentially leave the US behind.

Commenting on it plans to expand the scope of the trials, Amazon said: “We are currently permitted to operate during daylight hours when there are low winds and good visibility, but not in rain, snow or icy conditions. Once we’ve gathered data to improve the safety and reliability of our systems and operations, we will expand the envelope.”

While Amazon is testing the non line of sight / autonomous drones in the UK, it also has test centres in the US, Austria and Israel. The online retail and computer services giant added in its statement that it is “working with regulators and policymakers in various countries in order to make Prime Air a reality for our customers around the world, and expect to continue to do so.”

 
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