After several months of lobbying, Amazon has gained a partial victory in its fight to test drones for eventual package deliveries. The Federal Aviation Administration has given the company an "experimental airworthiness certificate," which are "normally granted to aerospace companies like Boeing and others that are conducting research and development on new drone technologies," the New York Times said.The certificate allows limited drone testing outdoors: the drones must fly below 400 feet, only in the daytime, be operated by pilot certified to fly private manned aircraft and only within the pilot's sight. The company, which has been testing drones indoors, said it will conduct outdoor tests in rural Washington State.
Amazon had argued that FAA limitations on drone testing would force companies to do so abroad. The agency is concerned about the safety of drones.
The Wall Street Journal noted that last month, the FAA proposed rules that "would restrict companies from allowing drones to operate out of their sight, putting on ice for the foreseeable future any commercial applications such as those proposed by Amazon and others, including Google."
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the company's idea for fleets of drones delivering packages on a highly publicized 60 Minutes segment in early December 2013, at the beginning of the holiday season.
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