Amazon Prime Air Drone
Source: Amazon
Amazon speak Friday, it will begin delivering packages to shoppers using a drone in College Station, Texas, later this year.
The east Texas town is the second location to see the launch of Prime Air drone deliveries. Last month, Amazon announced it will deliver some packages by drone later this year in the town of Lockeford, Northern California.
Amazon said it will work with Texas A&M University, located in College Station, to deploy the drones. Amazon said that Amazon shoppers in Lockeford and College Station will be able to get free drone delivery on thousands of everyday items.
The company says its drone is capable of delivering packages of up to 5 pounds in less than an hour. Amazon says the Prime Air drone can fly up to 50 miles per hour and up to an altitude of 400 feet.
Its drones fly to a designated delivery location, descend into a shopper’s backyard, and hover at a safe height, the company said. Amazon says the device will release the package, rise back up to altitude, and return to base.
Amazon’s drone delivery program has been slow since 2013 when founder and CEO Jeff Bezos indicate the company is testing the technology and is promising that half-hour shipping by Prime Air drones will arrive in 2018 at the earliest.
In the years since, Amazon has made some progress in the effort, launching an updated version of its Prime Air delivery drone in 2019 at the re:MARS conference in Vegas. At the time, Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s consumer goods boss, declare Drones will be used “within a few months” to deliver packages.
But the drone delivery program is also reported to have encountered some setbacks, such as high turnoverand many incidents, including one that sparked a 20-acre fire in eastern Oregon. An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on drone delivery and reports of problems.
Amazon reached an important milestone in August 2020 when the Federal Aviation Administration authorized it to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones.
CLOCK: Amazon gets FAA approval to operate a fleet of delivery drones
