Reality Check: Former Amazon Executive Says Company Should Shut Down its Drone Program

Amazon’s dream of becom­ing the lead­ing drone deliv­ery com­pa­ny in the world con­tin­ues to sink in to obliv­ion.

Brit­tain Ladd, a Sup­ply Chain Con­sul­tant and For­mer Ama­zon Exec­u­tive, wrote on his per­son­al blog recent­ly: “There comes a point in time when indi­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies must face the facts and accept real­i­ty. Ama­zon should shut down its drone pro­gram.”

His frus­tra­tion grows after the com­pa­ny has lost two Exec­u­tives key to its drone oper­a­tions. Jim Mullin, Prime Air’s Chief Pilot, left last month, whilst Robert Dreer, who report­ed to Mullin and was respon­si­ble for all of Prime Air’s test oper­a­tions, depart­ed last week for a role at eVTOL Air­craft start­up, Open­er.

Ladd points out: “Ama­zon has been tout­ing since 2013 that they would become the leader in deliv­er­ing pack­ages that weighed five pounds or less via drones. Ama­zon isn’t close to achiev­ing their goal.”

Despite receiv­ing mil­lions in fund­ing, Ama­zon Prime Air is only tri­alling drones in two small mar­kets, and the pro­gram has been plagued by drone crash­es and poor per­for­mance.

Ama­zon Promised Drone Deliv­ery Tri­als in 2022 — Achieved with Just a Few Weeks to Go

Ama­zon Drone Deliv­ery Back on Track or More “Cry Wolf?”

Ladd con­tin­ues: “I have been a crit­ic of Amazon’s drone pro­gram from the begin­ning because I don’t believe drones will ben­e­fit the com­pa­ny except in a few lim­it­ed use cas­es. I cer­tain­ly under­stand why peo­ple at Ama­zon got excit­ed about using drones. Yes, they’re cool and fun to fly. They’re also a night­mare of reg­u­la­tions.” Adding, “I remain con­vinced that Ama­zon should imme­di­ate­ly shut down their pro­gram.”

He con­cludes, “Some may argue that Ama­zon should keep it and increase the fund­ing. I dis­agree. Drones are a dis­trac­tion to Ama­zon and lit­tle progress has been made. Andy Jassy (Ama­zon CEO and Pres­i­dent) needs to make it clear that enough is enough and that there are more impor­tant pri­or­i­ties for Prime Air and Ama­zon.”

Brit­tain Ladd, Sup­ply Chain Con­sul­tant and for­mer Ama­zon Exec­u­tive

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