Samaras said his research indicated that drone delivery, compared to fossil-fuel truck delivery, consumes up to 90% less energy per package. Zipline, the world’s largest drone delivery service, is among the companies that have received that permission in several states. The company plans to go nationwide with drone delivery in 2026. A spokesperson for Amazon’s Prime Air drone-delivery program told NBC News it hopes to be delivering 500 million packages per year by the end of this decade. The FAA told NBC News that there are currently more than 383,000 drones registered for commercial purposes.

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Persons: Samaras, ” Eric Watson, Watson, Yanfeng Ouyang, “, ” Ouyang, ” Organizations: Federal Aviation Administration, NBC, Amazon’s Prime, FAA, NBC News, University of Illinois Locations: Arkansas, Utah, Dallas, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign