Amazon finally ready for Prime Air drone deliveries
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It has been nine years in the making, but Amazon (AMZN) just announced it will begin deliveries using Prime Air drones later this year as it attempts to get the long-delayed project off the ground. The service will initially be available in Lockeford, California - which is about 40 miles south of Sacramento - and will use feedback from the service to improve its operations. To fly delivery drones in the U.S., companies have to be approved by the FAA, and the retail behemoth is one of only three firms in the U.S. that has received Part 135 certification.
How it works? "Once onboarded, customers in Lockeford will see Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon. They will place an order as they normally would and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order. For these deliveries, the drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customerâs backyard, and hover at a safe height. It will then safely release the package and rise back up to altitude," Amazon (AMZN) wrote in a blog post.
"We've created a sophisticated and industry-leading sense-and-avoid system that will enable operations without visual observers and allow our drone to operate at greater distances while safely and reliably avoiding other aircraft, people, pets, and obstacles. It can also detect moving objects on the horizon, like other aircraft, even when itâs hard for people to see them, If obstacles are identified, our drone will automatically change course to safely avoid them."
The competition: Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) Wing launched commercial service just north of Dallas in April, and hopes to soon press the button on wide-scale deployment. Walmart's (WMT) drone delivery program is also available to more than 4M households in the U.S., making it possible for customers to get diapers or dinner ingredients delivered in 30 minutes or less. Meanwhile, Uber Eats (UBER) has promised to ratchet up drone delivery operations in the near future, but until now, the technology has been mainly focused on small-scale trials.