Amazon Wants a Special Sky Highway Just for Autonomous Drones

As our airspace becomes increasingly crowded, regulators are scrambling to keep up with the recent explosion in interest related to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones. During a conference at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the e-commerce company proposed setting aside a chunk of the world’s airspace exclusively for drone aircraft.

In the proposals, which were unveiled today at the NASA UTM convention in California, a 100ft “no fly zone” would be created above the drones to act as a buffer and avoid any potential clashes with aircrafts.

‘Amazon believes the safest and most efficient model for sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial Systems) with mixed equipage and capabilities is in segregated airspace with a defined structure for operations below 500 feet, ‘ said a written portion of the Amazon Prime Air presentation.

Executives propose to designate areas of low altitude airspace below 500ft for this goal, by salami slicing different altitudes for use by different drone and unmanned vehicle operators.

Amazon has published two position papers outlining its proposal. Sense-and-avoid technology is critical as companies such as Amazon want their drones to fly autonomously, so a human won’t be present to avert a collision with a pigeon, skyscraper or helicopters.

Drones have been responsible for getting in the way of commercial flights, interfering with emergency services, and drifting close to restricted airspaces, where they inevitably cause a panic.

Hobbyists and professionals such as real-estate agents are increasingly using the devices, and big companies including Amazon and Google have ambitious plans to use them routinely. Once finalized, they would allow commercial flights only during the day and within sight of the drone’s operator on the ground, rudimentary standards that won’t allow deliveries, long-range inspections and other more complex operations.

Amazon is proposing that Amazon Drones and other commercial drones would fly between 200 and 400 feet, this would great a high speed transit area for high speed drones.

Amazon thinks drones can fly safely in urban areas, provided they have an array of cutting-edge technologies, which are still being developed and tested by Amazon and others. Implementation of such a system would likely require support from Congress or the FAA. Much of the technology, such as drone communications via mobile phone networks, is already feasible, he said. According to a report from Bloomberg, Google (in partnership with other major tech leaders) wants license to create and operate an air traffic control solution for commercial drones, something that is now lacking, and that the government has no intention to provide.