Funding continues to flow to drone ventures worldwide even as news from the FAA suggests it will be many years before true autonomous flight will be allowed in the US. Meanwhile Amazon feels they must develop their drone plans offshore.

When it comes to ground robots and autonomous flying vehicles, there are a number of different trade-offs …

The head of Google’s moonshot lab Google X has recently announced they have scrapped the initial ‘Project Wing‘ design that they have been testing in Australia. According to X lab Director Astro Teller, the old design was difficult to control and they are now working on a new design. 

UPDATED 29.12.2014 Planned to be deployed at Singapore’s Timbre Group 12-inch Pizza & Records restaurant in late 2015, these flying robotic waiters were recently presented to Singapore’s Prime Minister at the launch of National Productivity Month.

DHL launches first authorized autonomous delivery flights by “parcelcopter” to and from the North Sea island of Juist, 7.5 miles off the coast of Northern Germany.

Since Congress gave the FAA power to grant innovators “expedited operational authorization”, Amazon is asking to be exempted from the lengthy and complex FAA approval process, citing innovation as a driving factor.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s rules on civilian use are currently on hold by a federal court, and in the interim, companies are scrambling to take advantage of using drones to deliver product.

Two UAV delivery methodologies are emerging: one from a fixed warehouse location, and the other from a mobile base. Which one will prevail?

Amazon announced yesterday that it is developing a drone delivery service called Prime Air that will aim to get packages into customer’s hands within 30 minutes. They are planning to launch as soon as FAA regulations are lifted — as early as 2015. Amazon states that safety will be their top priority. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says, “Look, this thing can’t land on somebody’s head while they’re walking around their neighborhood.”