Tensions between Amazon and the Federal Aviation Administration have been brewing for months, so it should come as no surprise that the agency drafted regulations that shoot down the e-commerce giant's drone delivery ambitions.
Why, after all, would the FAA inflict upon itself the masochism of unmanned aircraft hurtling through the sky with gadgets and groceries? The agency seems to have its hands full with helicopters and planes.
And therein lies the abject failure of Amazon to publicly make the case for its proposed Prime Air delivery service, which aims to get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using small aerial vehicles.
"We believe customers will love it," wrote Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global public policy, to the FAA in December, without much in the way of hard data to support his sweeping claims.
Random assertions like those seem to be the basis of Amazon's argument, and the FAA just isn't buying it.
"What data or analysis supports Amazon's position that aerial delivery is in the interest of the American public?" asked the FAA in a rather testy letter to Amazon on Oct. 30. "Examples of benefit to the public may include reductions in injuries or fatalities related to current hand delivery practices."
In other words: what's in it for us?
Amazon's failure to provide much of an argument beyond that it really, really wants to have drones is almost certainly to blame for the FAA's stifling proposal that would mandate drones remain within eyesight of the operator at all times and stay only 500 feet above ground level. Both rules pretty much defeat the purpose of Prime Air.
That said, the FAA isn't so obtuse as to scare off what could potentially be a huge innovation industry in the United States. The agency specifically stated that it is open to public comment on the proposed line-of-sight restriction. Once the proposed rules are published online, the public has 60 days to comment.
Misener has rightly argued that it's in the best interests of the nation for Amazon to keep its drone research and development here in the U.S.
But Amazon needs to get a grip: it's not like these drones are going to be defusing bombs or transporting life-saving medicine.
Until that's the case, Amazon is going to have to make a better argument.
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