Amazon will be continuing with drone deliveries, which were temporarily halted following a crash earlier this week. The accident happened on Wednesday in Arizona, with a pair of drones crashing into a crane.
Gabriel Dahlberg, a diesel mechanic who witnessed one of the crashes from a nearby lot while parking a truck, told KPNX’s 12 News that the drone clipped the cable of the crane that was being used to lift equipment onto a building. According to Sergeant Erik Mendez of the Tolleson Police Department, the preliminary investigation showed that the two Amazon drones were flying back to back when both crashed into the crane and landed approximately 100 to 200 feet apart in separate parking lots.
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The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigation, with cooperation from Amazon. “We’re aware of an incident involving two Prime Air drones in Tolleson, Arizona. We’re currently working with the relevant authorities to investigate,” Amazon spokesperson Terrence Clark told The Verge.
“Safety is our top priority, and we’ve completed our own internal review of this incident and are confident that there wasn’t an issue with the drones or the technology that supports them,” said Clark, following the resumption of the service. “Nonetheless, we’ve introduced additional processes like enhanced visual landscape inspections to better monitor for moving obstructions such as cranes.”
The program has faced several setbacks over the years including the departure of key executives, as the company pushed towards the goal of using drones to deliver 500 million packages per year by the end of the decade.
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Amazon started using drones in 2022. It opened a drone delivery center in Tolleson with people living nearby have been able to get purchases weighing less than five pounds delivered in less than an hour.
The MK30 drones are approved by the FAA to fly beyond where the operator can see it, and use a “sophisticated on-board detect and avoid system” to prevent crashes, according to the company’s website.
In August, the U.S. Transportation Department proposed new rules to speed deployment of drones beyond the visual line of sight of operators, a change needed for use in commercial deliveries. “It’s going to change the way that people and products move throughout our airspace… so you may change the way you get your Amazon package, you may get a Starbucks cup of coffee from a drone,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at the time.