Amazon withdraws from drone trade group 'Prime Air' over safety concerns

Amazon has decided to end the contract with drone services, 'Prime Air.'

The world's largest e-commerce platform, Amazon.com, is withdrawing its drone unit, Prime Air, from the Commercial Drone ‌Alliance, saying it had safety concerns that were incompatible with the group's positions.

Amazon Prime Air said in a letter seen Thursday by Reuters that the alliance's positions "on the most consequential safety questions facing the commercial drone industry are incompatible with Prime Air’s core safety tenets."

The letter ‌said that in over 70,000 drone flights, Amazon Prime Air's detect-and-avoid performed "successful collision avoidance maneuvers on two potential mid-air collisions with aircraft that could have led to catastrophic safety consequences, including the loss of life." Amazon said the alliance opposes requirements for the technology.