Two executive staff members vital to Amazon's drone delivery services, according to sources for CNBC, have left the company. Those personnel provided direction for examinations of Amazon Prime Air's drones, one of which experienced a failure in late June. Meanwhile, the service has been unable to broaden beyond trials in two limited U.S. locales.
Two key executives for Amazon's drone delivery operations have recently left the company, a blow for an expensive program which has yet to yield significant results. Jim Mullin, Chief Pilot of Prime Air, left in June (as shown on his LinkedIn profile), and Robert Dreer, responsible for Prime Air test operations, left last week for a role at electric VTOL aircraft startup Opener, according to his LinkedIn post. Both had been based at Prime Air's main site in Pendleton, Oregon.
With Prime Air on the verge of launching this year, CEO Andy Jassy enacted drastic layoffs, including staffing cuts at Prime Air. This was in response to slowing growth and changing investor conditions. Besides these challenges, the unit has been hindered by regulatory guidelines, and unable to meet their goal of 10,000 deliveries this year at their two main sites (Lockford, California, and College Station, Texas). There have been a number of drone crashes, including one in June at Pendleton, reported by the Federal Aviation Administration, with no injuries reported. Amazon has commented that this accident was done in accordance to regulations, and that no other accidents have occurred this year.
The company is in the midst of durability and reliability (D&R) testing, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration. This requires completing hundreds of hours of flying without incident in order for regulations to be met. Amazon plans to launch their next-generation drone, the MK30, next year, and will likely have to go through the same D&R process.
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