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Amazon's latest idea for swift deliveries in urban areas is the humble bicycle, according to a new report.
While Amazon has famously been investigating the use of drones to get packages to people in built-up cities a little quicker, there are other, less demanding methods on the table.
According to a new Wall Street Journal report, one of those simpler means is being tested in New York right now. Amazon is currently trying out one hour bike deliveries in Manhattan.
The retail giant has been holding time trials involving messengers from three courier services, claims the report. The quickest and most careful will win the right to run packages for the new Amazon Prime Now service that Amazon is planning.
These tests apparently involve giving bike couriers an address, at which point they must cycle there within an allotted time, take a photo of the building's dress, and return to Amazon's pimped-out Manhattan base.
If successful, it could be one way forward for the company in its home territory. Amazon has run into legislative difficulty with regard to the use of drones over American soil. The US Federal Aviation Administration has effectively banned the use of drones for commercial purposes until it has finished coming up with rules to govern such usage.
This has prompted Amazon to move its drone tests elsewhere, including the UK. The company has threatened to move more of its drone research abroad if it doesn't get permission to operate in US airspace soon.
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