Supermarket giant Wal-Mart applied with the federal regulator, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), on Monday to test drones for use in home deliveries and at its distribution centers and outlets. It has actually been making indoor testing of two types of drones for several months, Phantom 3 and S900, both made by Chinese firm SZ DJI Technology.
After the pilot tests, Wal-Mart is ready to put them to use, said Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Toporek, reports The New York Times. He says the drones would perform also inventory work at its million-square-foot distribution centers as well as home deliveries.
The drones would be ideal for stores that are within five miles of 70 percent of the U.S. population which would give Wal-Mart close reach to get to a lot of its customers, Toporek says.
Toporek explains, "You test for a reason because you learn during tests and you tend to evolve and figure out which approaches are most compelling to customers and most efficient for the business," quotes USA Today.
The application puts Wal-Mart in direct competition with Amazon which has been doing drone deliveries through its "Prime Air" service since 2013. Amazon Chief Executive Jeffrey Bezos, who has sought air space for exclusive use of commercial drones, foresees drone deliveries one day becoming as ordinary as seeing the postal truck.
Commercial use of drones is still banned by federal rules, although the FAA is considering having all drone owners, including hobbyists, register with the government for monitoring, particularly for drones that would fly very near airports.
Michael Drobac, executive director of the Small UAV Coalition, says the FAA approval process usually takes 120 days. The coalition is a drone industry group.