Amazon‘s long-awaited drone deliveries are here. The retailer giant has begun the Amazon Prime Air pilot in the US states of California and Texas. It received the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approval for delivering orders by drones back in August 2020.
Amazon announced this pilot in June this year. The company said it will start drone deliveries in Lockeford, an unincorporated community in San Joaquin County in California with about 3,500 residents, before the end of this year. As promised, the Amazon Prime Air program has begun, in Lockeford. The firm has also added College Station, a medium-sized city in eastern Texas, to the pilot.
According to reports, Amazon started delivering orders by drones in these two areas in the run-up to this Christmas. Residents require to manually sign up for the service, though. The company will then verify if drone deliveries are safely possible to their address. Approved customers can have eligible packages weighing five pounds (2.2 kgs) or lesser delivered by a drone. Once they place the order, they will receive the tracking information and an estimated delivery time. Amazon expects this program to enable it to deliver orders within an hour.
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Once the package is loaded and the delivery address is added to the drone’s brain, it will fly to the designated location and descend to the customer’s backyard. The machine will then hover at a safe height before releasing the package onto the ground. After the delivery is complete, it will rise up and head back to Amazon’s drone depot where a new order might be waiting for it. All of this happens autonomously with the machine using algorithms to avoid obstacles such as power lines, though this pilot program involves human monitoring as well.
Amazon will expand drone deliveries to more areas over time
Amazon is just getting started with its drone delivery pilot. As of now, it appears to be delivering orders by drones within 3.73 miles of its delivery center in Texas and within four miles of its drone depot in California (via). The service is also limited to daylight operations up to five days per week. Moreover, it can have a maximum of 50 delivery flights per operating day in each service sector (operating areas are divided into four sectors), with only one aircraft allowed to be airborne at a time.
But as it learns more from this pilot, the retail giant will expand the service to more areas. It will inform customers when Amazon Prime Air is available in their community. Amazon also plans to introduce new drones that are stronger and can go further, such as the MK30 drone that will be available in 2024. It is currently delivering orders in Lockeford and College Station using the hexagonal MK27-2 drones with six propellers. If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, watch out for a communication from the company regarding drone deliveries in your area.
Amazon begins drone deliveries in two US states
