Walmart wants to start testing delivery drones too

Ever since Amazon put the idea of delivery drones in the limelight, companies across the United States have been asking federal regulators for permission to begin testing their own delivery drone systems. Walmart is the latest company to do so, having already done testing inside its own facilities, and now wanting the FAA to grant it an exemption from American drone regulations so that it can conduct testing outside. The company claims it wants to use drones to improve its supply chain and conduct aerial inspections of its buildings. 

Not content to let Amazon (the world’s No. 1 retailer) have the corner on the drone delivery market, today Walmart announced its own plans to enter the quadcopter package-delivering fray. Walmart applied for permission with U.S. regulatory agencies today for permission to test drones for package delivery. The moves comes almost a year after online retailer Amazon announced its own drone-based delivery program, Prime Air. In an application under Section 333 of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Modernization and Reform Act, first uncovered by Reuters this evening, Walmart applied for an exemption which will allow it to commercially operate Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) under certain circumstances. The company’s application sought exemptions to conduct outdoor unmanned aircraft flights as part of a research and development effort centered on using unmanned aircraft for operations. The sphere of domestic drones has been a bit of a wild west in regards to applicable legislation, but regulatory bodies are quickly catching up. Last week, the FAA and DOT announced a program that will require all drone operators to register their unmanned vehicles with the federal government. Section 333 exemptions allow companies looking to explore the use of commercial drones (up to 55 pounds in weight) a means of doing so. After moving at a snail’s pace for months, the FAA has significantly sped up approval of the exemptions and as of October has approved over 2,020 of these applications.