Amazon has proposed to NASA that a large section of the sky be declared a drone zone, a chunk of airspace where only high-end, autonomous drones would be allowed to fly. The filing proposes specific standards for such drones, in a clever attempt to craft rules that would help Amazon dominate its retail rivals by controlling the skies.

Is it Amazon’s place to be leading these FAA and NASA discussions? The nicest interpretation is that Amazon sees a true need for these kinds of changes and that it also sees a vacuum in leadership. In short, it sees that no one is stepping up — at least not the government — to make this happen, so either Amazon takes the initiative or it won’t get done. I guess you could see all of this as very mature and selfless of Amazon, to devote these kinds of resources to helping the planet. Or you could take the cynical interpretation and think that the e-commerce maestro wants to help craft the rules to give itself an advantage for as many years and decades as it can. Which is more likely?

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