Two of Amazon’s MK30 delivery drones crashed in Arizona on Wednesday morning, and now two federal agencies are stepping in to investigate what happened.
Amazon also temporarily paused drone deliveries in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area as a result of the crash.
According to local news reports, like this TV segment from ABC15 Arizona, two Prime Air delivery drones crashed into a crane in Tolleson, a city in Maricopa County, Arizona. The incident happened on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. local time.
The Prime Air delivery drones were reportedly flying back to back when they crashed into the crane, which was being used to lift equipment at a nearby facility.
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The drones each landed in nearby parking lots. One man was injured after inhaling smoke from the wreckage and was treated, according to The Verge.
Amazon has a distribution center just two miles away from where the crash happened, which is where the drones land and take off from with deliveries. As The Verge reports, Amazon just started drone deliveries at this location last November.
It’s unclear what caused the crash. Amazon’s delivery drones are equipped with a “sense and avoid” system which detects and maneuvers around obstacles on the air and ground. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are both now investigating the drone crashes.
Mashable has reached out to Amazon for more information and will update this post when we hear back.
