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Amazon.com wowed the world in 2013 with a video purporting to show what the future of the delivery industry would look like. But are we any closer to that now? The answer seems to be no — at least in Japan.

Uber Technologies Inc. plans to deliver food by drone in San Diego as part of a wide-reaching commercial test program approved by the federal government May 9, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.

At Memphis International Airport, drones may soon be inspecting planes and delivering airplane parts for FedEx Corp. In Reno, Nev., they will test airlifting life-saving defibrillators to patients. And customers in Virginia could be awaiting Alphabet Inc.’s flying devices to get goods they ordered.

A who’s who of technology and aviation companies won U.S. approval to push the edge of the envelope in drone flights, from testing people’s tolerance for delivery devices hovering over their rooftops to ensuring farmers’ drones won’t hit crop dusters.

Retailers, railroads and electricity companies are pressing for U.S. government approval to fly drones longer distances. Regulators, geared to an aviation industry that can take five years to get a new jetliner in the air, are struggling to adjust to the breakneck pace.

>Deliveries by drones took a step closer to being allowed in the U.S. after a federal advisory panel agreed on a framework for allowing law enforcement to routinely track the small devices.

Amazon received a patent outlining a possible plan for “directed fragmentation for unmanned airborne vehicles” used in deliveries.

Drone deliveries got a step closer to reality as the White House issued an order giving local governments more authority to conduct tests of the burgeoning new technology.

Drones could be routinely dropping packages out of the air as early as this December, just in time for the busy holiday season, if one company that demonstrated its technology recently in Las Vegas has its way

Mercedes-Benz is taking the next step in an ambitious project to use drones for same-day delivery, with a three-week pilot in Zurich that will see mini copters shuttle bags of ground coffee to fixed points in the city.