Amazon's drone dreams come crashing down: US regulators ban package delivery services using 'model aircraft'
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The drone delivery dreams of Amazon boss Jess Bezos have come crashing down after regulators ruled that delivery services are too dangerous.
The Federal Aviation Administration has said that Amazon and other firms cannot use drones to deliver packages.
The ruling is part of an FAA document seeking public comment on its policy on drones, or what the agency calls 'model aircraft.'
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Future: Amazon's Prime Air project is described as 'a new delivery system that will get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles'
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The Internet shopping giant's chief executive Jeff Bezos said that he wants to use octocoptors to replace postmen and cut delivery times to just 30 minutes.
Customers would have their order dropped onto their front lawn by the machine which would fly through the air from a nearby warehouse with it clasped in a metal grabber.
Firms such as DHL are also working on drone delivery projects.
Under a graphic that says what is barred, the FAA mentioned the 'Delivering of packages to people for a fee.'
This is clarified in a footnote saying: 'If an individual offers free shipping in association with a purchase or other offer, FAA would construe the shipping to be in furtherance of a business purpose, and thus, the operation would not fall within the statutory requirement of recreation or hobby purpose.'
The agency has said that it would revisit the commercial application of small drones later this year, with potential new rules in place perhaps by the end of 2015.
Brendan Schulman, the New York lawyer who convinced a federal judge to declare that the FAA is illegally enforcing a commercial ban on drones, told ArsTechnica the new rules were an attack on commercial use of drones.
'It's a purported new legal basis telling people to stop operating model aircraft for business purposes,' he said.
Amazon has admitted the project may take some time.
'Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years as we advance the technology and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations,' the firm has previously warned.
Amazon is serious about using drones to deliver items to its customers, and is close to developing the technology to make it a reality, the company's CEO has claimed.
On their way: Jeff Bezos said testing of '5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles' was currently underway, adding that more drones - perhaps the models that will be put into active service - were in the design phase
In his annual letter to shareholders, which was made public earlier this year, Jeff Bezos gave an update on the Seattle-based company's achievements in 2013 - including a reference to drone development.
Bezos said testing of '5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles' was currently underway, adding that more drones - perhaps the models that will be put into active service - were in the design phase.
Bezos made reference to a Amazon's 'Prime Air' team carrying out the drone testing during his letter to shareholders.
Amazon describes Prime Air as 'a new delivery system that will get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles'.
Ongoing: Jeff Bezos said Amazon is continuing to develop and test technology for delivery drones
Earlier in the letter, Bezos said Amazon had made dramatic improvements to its delivery service in 2013 - including offering Sunday delivery in selected U.S. cities, introducing 'last mile' delivery networks in the U.K., and employing bike couriers in countries where deliveries could be slowed down by postal difficulties, such as China and India.
He then added: 'And there is more invention to come.
'The Prime Air team is already flight testing our 5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles, and we are in the design phase on generations 7 and 8.'
This brief reference to Prime Air has been enough to lead to renewed speculation over when customers can expect to have their items delivered by drone.
A recent court ruling removed one not-insignificant obstacle in Amazon's quest, by removing the Federal Aviation Administration's authority to ban small unmanned aircraft being flown over U.S. airspace for commercial purposes.
This effectively gave businesses the right to fly small drones for the purposes of professional photography, journalism or farmland surveying.
It also, theoretically, allowed Amazon to introduce a drone-based delivery service - until the rules were clarified today.
In his letter to shareholders, Bezos remained realistic about the chances of Prime Air testing turning into an fully-fledged delivery service, however.
'Failure comes part and parcel with invention. It's not optional', he said.
Bezos went on to explain that Amazon would continuing working on drones 'until we get it right' and it becomes 'something that is really working for customers.'
'[At that point] we double-down on it with hopes to turn it into an even bigger success', Bezos added.
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