What’s going on: Some neighborhoods across the country are paying a high price for convenience — whether they like it or not. Since Amazon’s 2022 launch of Prime Air, not only have the drone deliveries ramped up, so have the complaints. According to The New York Times, one Texas suburb near an Amazon distribution center is underneath what residents call a “drone highway,” where drones buzz loudly over backyards from 7 am to 8 pm. Neighbors say the constant whirring picks up on weekends, and it can be heard over household appliances like blenders and TVs (yes, not even RHONY drama can drown it out). But it’s more than just noise pollution. While Amazon says the cameras on its drones are used for navigation and that the encrypted data is only for “authorized personnel,” it’s not doing much to quell privacy and surveillance concerns.
Can anything be done?: There’s not much municipalities can do amid residents' complaints. The Federal Aviation Administration sets the rules on US air space and gave Amazon the green light to use their drones. So people are taking matters into their own hands. Some are keeping “drone trackers” to monitor how many zip by and how low they’re flying. Others have requested shorter delivery timeframes (which have been denied) and different flight paths (after a Texas woman asked Prime Air to avoid her backyard, drones started flying over her front yard). Amazon says it's working on launching quieter drones and that the buzzing only lasts 30 seconds per delivery. But when you multiply that by the number of times people add to cart, it's much longer. And there's more buzz on the way: Prime Air is expanding to 500 cities by the end of the year.
