Amazon has received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly its delivery drones over longer distances.
Previously, the FAA required all commercial drone operators to keep their drones within visual line of sight until a safe technology for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations was approved.
In a statement, Amazon said it had spent years developing BVLOS technology to ensure its drones could safely detect and avoid obstacles in the air.
The company recently demonstrated this technology to FAA inspectors.
This announcement follows a similar exemption granted to Alphabet’s Wing last December, allowing it to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight.p
Amazon said the approval allowed it to “serve more customers via drone and effectively expand and scale drone delivery operations.”
The company needed FAA approval to use drones to deliver 500 million packages per year by the end of this decade.
