Remember about three years ago when retail giant Amazon announced that it was going to deliver your parcels by air, using drones? Oh how we giggled. Well, that day has just drawn a step closer.
Following a trial in Cambridge, the company has completed the first Amazon Prime Air drone-powered delivery. It happened last week but news has only just been released. It took just 13 minutes from order to delivery, using the custom-built fulfillment centre nearby.
Amazon state that Prime Air is only available to a few customers within range of this particular fulfillment centre at the moment, but they are hopefully opening up to more customers.
Although the drone can only for in good weather and low winds, the item gets ordered and packaged, then the drone is loaded and sent on a motorized track, to the takeoff point. It then flies at heights up to 400 feet to make the delivery before safely returning.
We all thought this was a marketing ploy, but it appears that Jeff Bezos’ plan wasn’t a joke. Amazon tell us..
One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.
If they could get over the weather, then this will indeed be an interesting new option for selected Amazon customers.