 Technology |
Technology |
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Amazon drone program clears FAA hurdle |
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized Amazon's Prime Air delivery drones to operate beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), clearing a major hurdle to the e-commerce giant's plans to expand the reach of its deliveries. |
Amazon said it has worked for years to develop and refine its "detect-and-avoid technology" to allow pilots to operate the drone remotely, while avoiding any obstacles in the air, our colleague Sarah Fortinsky reported. To obtain FAA approval, Amazon conducted flight demonstrations for FAA inspectors "to show our system works in real-world scenarios." "We flew in the presence of real planes, helicopters, and a hot air balloon to demonstrate how the drone safely navigated away from each of them," the company said. The FAA requires commercial drone operators to physically be able to see the drones as they operate them, unless they have developed BVLOS technology ensuring a remote pilot can operate the device safely. The approval allows Amazon to "immediately" broaden its delivery area in College Station, Texas, one of the company's initial test sites launched in 2022. It also clears the way for Amazon to launch drone deliveries to the West Valley of the Phoenix area in Arizona later this year. "Our vision has remained unchanged since we started working on Prime Air: to create a safe and scalable way to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using highly autonomous drones," the announcement Thursday read. Read more in a full report at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, we're Rebecca Klar and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. | |
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: |
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President Biden's reelection campaign argued Thursday that billionaires view former President Trump as a useful “sucker” who will cut their taxes. The Biden campaign issued a response to a Wall Street Journal report that Tesla CEO Elon Musk could get an advisory role in the White House if Trump is elected in November, as a way for Musk to have "formal input" over policies on the economy and the border. "Despite … |
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| A Chinese national was charged Wednesday with leading the "world's largest botnet," responsible for "billions" in cybercrime, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday. The DOJ said YunHe Wang used the botnet, named "911 S5," to "commit cyber attacks, large-scale fraud, child exploitation, harassment, bomb threats, and export violations." "Working with our international partners, the FBI conducted a joint, sequenced … |
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An Amazon Prime membership will now permanently include a free subscription to the Grubhub+ food delivery service, the companies announced Thursday. Amazon previously offered a one-year Grubhub+ membership to Prime members in July 2022, before extending the offer for another year in June 2023. The Grubhub+ membership includes no delivery fees on orders over $12, reduced service fees and 5 percent credit back on pickup orders, … |
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News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: |
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How GM is slowly restarting Cruise |
General Motors is slowly restarting its driverless car branch Cruise after setbacks, but risks falling behind competitors, The New York Times reported. |
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Google to let Android users edit sent messages |
Google will let Android users edit messages up to 15 minutes after they've been sent as part of a release of seven new updates and features, TheVerge reported. |
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Branch out with other reads on The Hill: |
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OpenAI's Altman sidesteps questions about governance, Johansson at UN AI summit |
GENEVA (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was a star speaker at the annual AI for Good conference Thursday, addressing the U.N. telecommunications agency's annual gathering about how to tap the societal promise of artificial intelligence technology. But Altman spent part of his virtual appearance fending … |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Police coordinated by the European Union’s justice and police agencies have taken down computer networks responsible for spreading ransomware via infected emails, in what they called the biggest-ever international operation against the lucrative form of cybercrime. … |
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Thursday defended fundraising off the "bleach-blonde, bad-built butch body" insult she directed at Rep. Marjorie … Read more |
| Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville says he doesn’t believe former President Trump will actually show up to debate President Biden … Read more |
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Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill: |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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