An Amazon delivery drone was showcased at Amazon’s BOS27 Robotics Innovation Hub in Westborough, Massachusetts on November 10, 2022. The company has recently experienced a setback in its drone delivery operations with the departure of two key executives. Jim Mullin, the chief pilot of Prime Air, left Amazon last month, while Robert Dreer, responsible for test operations, left for a role at Opener. Both employees were based in Pendleton, Oregon. The departures have not been widely reported, and Amazon declined to comment on the matter.
This comes at a crucial time for Prime Air, as the program has faced challenges in becoming fully operational despite ambitious goals set by Jeff Bezos in 2013. Mullin, a former Marine One pilot, oversaw safety and compliance at Prime Air’s facilities in Oregon, California, and Texas. However, just as Prime Air was preparing to launch, CEO Andy Jassy initiated major layoffs to address slowing growth and changing investor sentiment.
Regulatory restrictions have also hindered Prime Air’s progress, limiting the locations where deliveries can be made. Even at the two launch sites in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, delivery numbers have fallen short of expectations. Additionally, there have been a number of reported incidents and crashes involving Prime Air drones. Most recently, a drone made an emergency landing and was destroyed during tests in Pendleton. However, Amazon stated that no one was injured, and the incident was reported to regulatory authorities.
Prime Air now faces the risk of not meeting the durability and reliability testing requirements set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The company began testing its current drone model, the MK27-2, earlier this year and needs to complete several hundred hours of incident-free flying. The same process will need to be repeated for the next-generation MK30, expected to launch next year.
Overall, Prime Air’s drone delivery program still has significant challenges to overcome before it can fully achieve its ambitious goals.
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