Amazon CEO blames regulation for holding back drone delivery services

Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos says that drone delivery will be 'as common as seeing a mail truck', but that regulation is a bigger obstacle in getting to that point than technology.

The UK may be one of the first places to put Amazon's plan to deliver goods by drone into practice

The Seattle-based company began testing drones in the UK last year, which was before it began testing in the US, because it received a US licence to test only in March this year. Mr Bezos praised the relatively liberal UK system as being 'a very encouraging example of good regulation'. 

Biggest issue

The company is working on developing a drone delivery service called Prime Air, though Mr Bezos said that drone delivery will not happen for many years. He added: 'One day Prime Air deliveries will be as common as seeing a mail truck. The technical problems are very straight ahead. The biggest issue, or the biggest thing that needs to be worked on, is the regulatory side.' Sources: Financial Times; Business Insider

Robotics

Drones are one of the main subjects of the Robotics Law Journal, which has just been launched. If you would like free access to a copy of the first issue, please email the editor at: neasamacerlean@globalcitymedia.com

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