Amazon’s latest distribution drones fell from the sky during a test flight in December after a software update made them vulnerable to the rain-a avoidable catastrophe was deteriorated by the company’s decision to remove a critical security sensor, according to a report quoting federal documents.
Amazon’s MK30’s twin crashes in Oregon occurred just minutes away on December 16, when the two planes suddenly closed in the middle air at a height of more than 200 meters and collided on the ground, Bloomberg News reported.
Autonomous drones mistakenly believed that they had landed, causing an automatic closure of their pushes while flying, according to the report.
An investigation by the National Transport Security Board blamed the cause of Lidar’s wrong readings deteriorated by the rain and a software tweak that increased the sensitivity of sensors, Bloomberg reported.
NTSB told the post that the drones “mistakenly determined that they had touched due to an incorrect height reading from a new software installation, which resulted in a loss of engine power.”
In a potentially significant error, Amazon had removed the spare copy “squat switches” – metal prongs used in previous models to physically confirm a landing – leaving the plane to rely solely on the sensor entrance, according to Bloomberg.
The lack of this secure is likely to contribute to the clash, three people informed about the issue was told by Bloomberg.
Amazon strongly pushed those claims.
“Bloomberg’s reporting is a fraudulent,” said spokesman Kate Kudrna for the post.
“Statements that assume that replacing one system with another would have prevented an accident in the past is irresponsible.”
Kudrna said Amazon has included “multiple sensors inputs” to prevent fake readings from causing future clashes.
She added that the MK30 drone is even safer and more reliable than its predecessor and coincides with the federal standards of aviation administration.
The crashes mark another obstacle to Amazon’s decades to start a scaled drone distribution operation.
First discovered by CEO Jeff Bezos in 2013, the drone initiative was billed as a technological jump that would enable the packages to be delivered in under 30 minutes.
Bezos predicted at the time that the drones would fall within five years. This promise will not materialize yet.
The Amazon drone project has been hampered by repeated delays, technical glitches and regulatory challenges.
A 2021 collision in his place of Pendleton, hour. December accidents led to a temporary pause in drone testing.
Last year, the mayor of College Station, Texas, a city located about 100 miles north -West Houston, wrote a letter to the Amazon drones was making a lot of noise.
Amazon resumed flight operations on Mars after receiving FAA approval for up -to -date altitude sensitization systems.
The MK30 drone, which replaced the previous MK27 model, can fly up to 67 miles per hour and deliver packages within a 7.5 mile radius.
While the MK27 relied on a combination of lidar and squat switches to confirm the landings, MK30 depends only on the vision of the camera -based computer and the software surplus to make that determination.
Critics say shift away from physical failures reflects a broader tendency of industry towards regulating equipment in favor of software solutions, often to reduce weight and production costs.
For example, the MK30 no longer lands in the backyards as its predecessor.
Instead, it is suspended and releases packages of about 13 meters upwards-a operational change that reduces the risk of human contact with its now exposed pushers.
Submission remain limited to College Station and the Great Phoenix area, with enlargements planned in Kansas City, Dallas area, San Antonio and international markets such as the United Kingdom and Italy.
Despite these milestones, the program is still far from Bezo’s original vision for a logistical drone energy revolution.
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