Amazon to FAA: Let Us Test Delivery Drones

Amazon's vision of a fleet of delivery drones is apparently closer to reality than realized: The company has asked the FAA for permission to run test flights on its own property, reports theStreet. Amazon says it's on a ninth-generation prototype that can carry packages up to 5 pounds and zip around at 50mph. But because of the FAA's restrictions on commercial drone flights, Amazon says its ability to expand testing is limited. And it warned that it would have to move the research out of the country unless it got the OK.

"One day, seeing Amazon Prime Air will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today," writes Amazon VP Paul Misener in the letter. In another sign the company is serious, it is advertising at least six jobs for Prime Air, including openings for a patent lawyer and a software engineer, reports the Wall Street Journal. In terms of the FAA request, Jeff Bezos and company have hope: The agency recently approved commercial drone flights in Alaska. (More Amazon stories.)