Amazon: Devote 200 Feet of Airspace to Drones

Company thinks it will be necessary for safety (and deliveries) in the near future
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 28, 2015 1:06 PM CDT
Amazon: Devote 200 Feet of Airspace to Drones
This undated image provided by Amazon.com shows a drone test flight.   (AP Photo/Amazon)

Amazon is thinking in more tangible terms about the future of delivery drones: It's floating the idea that 200 feet of airspace be designated a drone-only zone over cities. The company thinks that aviation officials should set aside the space between 200 and 400 feet above ground to safely accommodate the hundreds of thousands of high-speed drones—not just the company's—it expects will be zipping around in the next decade, reports the Guardian. Another 100 feet above that would be a no-fly buffer zone to keep them separated from planes.

Amazon's proposal also demands that drones in the designated airspace be of the high-tech variety and able to communicate with one another to avoid collisions. Hobbyists with no Internet connection, for instance, would have to stay below 200 feet. "That may rub some hobbyists the wrong way, but given that even cheap consumer drones are now connected to the Internet through their apps, it seems unlikely that there will be too many ... which fall into this category," explains the Verge. (Maybe it would cut down on problems like this?)

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