Photo: Amazon
Teased for almost ten years now, Amazon’s drone delivery program might finally come to fruition, as the e-commerce giant is announcing plans to soon begin operations in California.
It’s been a seemingly never-ending journey for Amazon’s Prime Air project, which has been promising customers faster deliveries by air for close to a decade now. When it first introduced the idea to the world, Amazon boasted of having put together an entire team of professionals to work on the matter, from aerospace pros to scientists and engineers. More than two dozen delivery drones have been designed, built, and tested over the years, to come up with the safest, fastest, and most effective aircraft.
Now it finally seems like all that work is paying off and Amazon just announced its plan to kick off its free Prime Air drone delivery program later this year. Customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first in the U.S. to receive their Amazon packages by drone, with the company claiming a delivery time of under an hour per order. Customers will place their order as they normally would and will receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for it.
Lockeford has a good reputation in the aviation industry thanks to its former resident Weldon B.Cooke, who built and flew planes in the early 1900s.
To bring its Prime Air service to Lockeford, Amazon is now working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and local officials to obtain permission to conduct the deliveries by drone.
Amazon may have taken a long time to get its program up and running but it now boasts of having developed a “sophisticated and industry-leading sense-and-avoid system”. Based on intelligent algorithms, the system allows its drones to operate at great distances safely, allowing them to detect and avoid any obstacles they might encounter not only during flight but also when approaching the ground.
The latest drone prototype revealed by Amazon is the MK27-2, which features a hexagonal design that provides six degrees of freedom for stability and propellers that have been specifically designed to minimize high-frequency soundwaves. Amazon’s delivery drones can carry up to 5 pounds (2.2 kg) of cargo and can fly at a top speed of 50 mph (80 kph).
Now it finally seems like all that work is paying off and Amazon just announced its plan to kick off its free Prime Air drone delivery program later this year. Customers in Lockeford, California, will be among the first in the U.S. to receive their Amazon packages by drone, with the company claiming a delivery time of under an hour per order. Customers will place their order as they normally would and will receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for it.
Lockeford has a good reputation in the aviation industry thanks to its former resident Weldon B.Cooke, who built and flew planes in the early 1900s.
To bring its Prime Air service to Lockeford, Amazon is now working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and local officials to obtain permission to conduct the deliveries by drone.
Amazon may have taken a long time to get its program up and running but it now boasts of having developed a “sophisticated and industry-leading sense-and-avoid system”. Based on intelligent algorithms, the system allows its drones to operate at great distances safely, allowing them to detect and avoid any obstacles they might encounter not only during flight but also when approaching the ground.
The latest drone prototype revealed by Amazon is the MK27-2, which features a hexagonal design that provides six degrees of freedom for stability and propellers that have been specifically designed to minimize high-frequency soundwaves. Amazon’s delivery drones can carry up to 5 pounds (2.2 kg) of cargo and can fly at a top speed of 50 mph (80 kph).
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