The UK Civil Aviation Authority has selected six projects to test drone use in deliveries, inspections of infrastructure, emergency services and flights to remote locations.
The delivery project selected is that of Amazon Prime Air, which is testing the use of drones to deliver packages to homes.
The CAA said the trials would help integrate drones flying beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their operator in UK airspace.
“The trials will gather key safety data, such as how drones detect and avoid other aircraft, the electronic signals they can send to be able to be visible to other airspace users and air traffic control,” the CAA said.
“This will support the regulator’s ongoing development of policy and regulations so that drone flights can be fully integrated with other airspace users.”
The UK CAA invited organisations to bid to participate in an “innovation sandbox” to validate and test their concepts.
The sandboxes are controlled environments where the organisations can test and further develop their new technology against the regulatory framework, helping applicants maximise the readiness of their innovation, and also support both innovators and existing users.
In October last year, Amazon said it hoped to integrate drone deliveries into its existing UK and Italy fulfilment network by the end of this year.
“In the UK and Italy, we will start integrating into some of our fulfilment centres, which will provide Amazon customers with faster delivery of an even greater selection of items,” the company said at the time. “We will start with one site in each location and expand over time.”
The announcement came as the company revealed its new MK30 drone that has a capacity to carry around 2.2 kg and can fly twice as far as previous models.
“The MK30 is quieter and will be able to fly in more diverse weather conditions—meaning customers can get super speedy deliveries even in situations like light rain, and hotter and colder temperatures,” Amazon explained.
“Our drones have a unique package delivery system, where packages are held inside drones during transit to protect their contents.”
The company’s drone programme is more advanced in the US where it has been delivering packages using drones to two US cities – Lockeford, California and College Station, Texas.
