Amazon has truly become a leader in marketplace innovation, with the announcement of counter less market called Amazon Go just last month. And now it seems that the company has made drone delivery a plausible reality as well, as the company recently launched a video showing their latest drone technology. The company claims that they will start regular drone deliveries, under the title of Amazon Prime Air, and will be able to carry up to five pounds by late 2017.
“Safety is our top priority. Our vehicles will be built with multiple redundancies, as well as sophisticated “sense and avoid” technology. Additionally, through our private trial in the UK, we will gather data to continue improving the safety and reliability of our systems and operations. We will deploy when and where we have the regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision.”
Amazon Prime has set their technology development centers in the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel, and Austria, and many other international locations. According to Amazon, the company is currently working on several delivery mechanisms and to figure out the most feasible and efficient one.
“The airspace is safest when small drones are separated from most manned aircraft traffic, and where airspace access is determined by capabilities. We are currently permitted to operate during daylight hours when there are low winds and good visibility, but not in rain, snow or icy conditions. Once we’ve gathered data to improve the safety and reliability of our systems and operations, we will expand the envelope.”
Recently Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos tweeted about their first successful drone delivery. The video below shows an order being delivered in just 13 mins after it was ordered. Jeff claims that this method is a lot more cheaper and safer than shipping. However, the range of tech deliveries is still unclear.
For now, the customers who order through Amazon Prime must have considerably large landing spacing for the drone, but Amazon is looking to cut out this requirement soon. The current trial was conducted in Cambridge, UK. And the company hopes they will be able to conduct similar experiments in other countries as well.