American e-commerce company, Amazon.com, Inc., announced that it was developing drones to be used as part of its delivery service many months ago. On the 26/07/2016, Amazon revealed that it had a partnership in place with the UK government to test the drones out. The experiment will test drones carrying parcels weighing 2.3 KG or less (this represents around 90% of the firm’s sales.)
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) stated that safety is their first priory. Specifically, CAA Policy Director, Tim Johnson, said “We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system. These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach.”
According to an article recently published on The Daily Star, some security experts believe that the drones pose a terror threat. It has also been suggested that the drones could be hijacked, and redirected to deliver the goods to a different address. Although Amazon.com, Inc. will have many safety precautions in place to deal with these types of issues, even a small number of hijackings could cause serious damage.
Collin Bull from SQS (a leading security company) said “We have to take care. Falling in to the wrong hands, there’s currently nothing to stop somebody flying a payload-laden drone into a busy city or even airspace. As with any connected technology, drones are at risk of being hacked by cyber criminals.”
The latest warnings from security and counter-terrorism experts regarding the drones won’t stop the development and use of them, as many people are already aware that any piece of technology is susceptible to hacking by criminals or terrorists.
As the NASDAQ closed on the 29/07/2016, a share in Amazon.com, Inc. was trading at $758.81 (up by 0.82%, or $6.20 on the day.) Amazon currently has a market capitalization of $365.77 billion.