Amazon believes regulation is killing innovation in the United States

Ah, the age-old battle between innovation and regulation. That was the subject of Amazon’s recent testimony before a Senate subcommittee, where the company complained that it has to wait ridiculous amounts of time to acquire the approval it needs to conduct tests that it could get in a matter of weeks in other countries. Because of the FCC, Amazon can’t test out drone deliveries at a reasonable pace. 

Amazon is desperate to fly diapers to your front door, but the U.S. government is harshing its vibe—that’s the gist of Amazon’s testimony before a Senate subcommittee earlier today. The Federal Aviation Administration is reportedly taking so long to approve Amazon’s requests to test-fly unmanned drones that the models they’re developing are becoming obsolete before they’ve even taken to the skies. Their original application took a year and a half to be approved, according to The Verge. By that time, the company had already developed a completely different design. It’s a classic case of technology evolving more quickly than Washington can keep up: The regulatory structure that guides whether or not Amazon can test-fly a delivery drone is a bit rustier than the culture of rapid-fire iteration that’s now thoroughly ingrained throughout the tech industry. In this case, the added red tape and slow-moving bureaucracy mean that Amazon can’t innovate as quickly as its resources and the available technology would otherwise allow.