Prime Air drones could deliver packages in under 30 minutesdavid roderiguez martin

Politicians and local residents have expressed concern after Amazon announced that Cambridge may be a test site for its new drone delivery service.

Amazon has expressed interest in testing its ‘Prime Air’ project in Cambridge last week, and is planning on expanding its research and development team in Cambridge to make the vision a reality.

The Prime Air project was unveiled in December 2013, with the announcement that Amazon planned to deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg – in other words 86 per cent of the products of Amazon’s inventory – to customers within just half an hour of them placing an order online. The drones would be controlled remotely.

However Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, expressed unease over the plans. He said: “I am concerned, however, by the deliveries that will be taking place in the city.

“There is always a risk that someone could be hurt when these trials take place.”

Furthermore Terry Holloway, managing director of Cambridge Aero Club, described the idea as “barking mad”. He also pointed out that Amazon may not be permitted to operate the drones, as “from a legislative point of view the Civil Aviation Authority rules, as they currently exist, mean it’s just totally unfeasible to even consider doing this.”

Indeed, Amazon is not listed as having permission for commercial flying of small drones, according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s latest list of approved operators.

The US online retail giant, which bought Cambridge startup Evi Technologies two years ago, sees the city as an ideal place for research and development because it can tap into the wealth of academic and entrepreneurial talent in Silicon Fen.

As pointed out by Nick Bubb, a retail analyst, “Cambridge probably isn’t a bad place to trial drones, as it’s a relatively dry part of the country and aircraft-free.”

A spokesman for Amazon Prime Air said: “We have multiple Prime Air development centers, including R&D [research and development] labs in Cambridge. We’re always looking to add great talent to the team.

“The Cambridge-based Prime Air positions we have open are a reflection of that.’

Students seem nonplussed by the plans, with some dismissing the idea that Prime Air will ever be a reality in student life.

Clare Historian Christie Morrallee was also doubtful about the plan’s feasibility, asking: “although they say there will be a team based in Cambridge, how realistic is it that they will be able to monitor unmanned drones from a relatively large distance and subsequently deal with any failures quickly?”

Fellow History undergraduate Joe Landman was also sceptical that the plans would have much impact on the student community - if they were to be carried out.

“Prime Air won’t be able to work with colleges anyway,” he said, “because deliveries have to go to the porters lodge. Amazon will therefore likely restrict the trial to non-college deliveries so it will barely affect students.”