Why Amazon’s Delivery-Drone Team Is Obsessed With Geese
- E-commerce giant is developing an air-traffic control system
- New research hub in France will focus on fleet management
Cell Phone Drones Take Flight
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Amazon.com Inc.’s development of package-delivery drones is progressing to the point where the company is now thinking a lot about geese.
The e-commerce company said Thursday it has started development of an air-traffic control system to manage its fleet as the drones fly from warehouses to customers’ doors. Amazon created a new research and development team near Paris, where about a dozen software engineers and developers will build a system aimed at ensuring flying delivery vehicles don’t collide with buildings, trees, other drones and -- most unpredictable of all -- birds. Or, to use aviation industry jargon, “non-collaborative flying objects.”