Amazon says it has successfully trialled its Prime Air drone delivery service in Cambridge, by delivering a TV streaming stick and bag of popcorn directly to the garden of a nearby customer.
The breakthrough suggests that autonomous aerial delivery could become a viable business sooner than thought, albeit only for customers with huge gardens, who live close to the delivery depot, and want items weighing less than 2.6kg.
Additionally, while deliveries will be available seven days a week, the drones can only fly in daylight hours and clement weather. Currently, the trial is only open to two customers, but Amazon says it hopes to expand that to dozens in the coming months. For those customers, Prime Air is available for no extra cost.
The company says the delivery, which took place last week, involved fully autonomous flight, with no human pilot involved in the process. The success was announced by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, who tweeted: “first ever #AmazonPrimeAir customer delivery is in the books. 13 min—click to delivery.” Amazon released a video of the flight but no press were invited to witness the test.
source: TheGuardian