Amazon to start out delivering packages by drone in Texas later this yr

Amazon mentioned Friday it would start delivering packages to customers by drone in Faculty Station, Texas, later this yr.

The japanese Texas city is the second location to see the launch of Prime Air drone deliveries. Final month, Amazon introduced it will ship some packages by drone later this yr within the Northern California city of Lockeford.

Amazon mentioned it would work with Texas A&M College, situated in Faculty Station, to deploy the drones. Amazon customers in Lockeford and Faculty Station will be capable to obtain free drone supply on hundreds of on a regular basis objects, Amazon mentioned.

The corporate mentioned its drones are able to delivering packages as much as 5 kilos in lower than an hour. Prime Air drones can fly as much as 50 miles per hour and as much as an altitude of 400 ft, Amazon mentioned.

Its drones fly to a chosen supply location, descend to the patrons’ yard, and hover at a protected top, the corporate mentioned. The gadget releases the bundle, rises again as much as altitude, and returns to base, Amazon mentioned.

Amazon’s drone supply program has been sluggish going since 2013 when founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos mentioned the corporate was testing the know-how and promised that half-hour delivery with Prime Air drones would arrive as quickly as 2018.

Within the years since, Amazon has made some progress on the hassle, debuting an up to date model of its Prime Air supply drone in 2019 at its re:MARS convention in Vegas. On the time, Jeff Wilke, who was Amazon’s client boss, proclaimed drones could be used “inside months” to ship packages.

However the drone supply program has additionally reportedly skilled some setbacks, corresponding to excessive turnover, and quite a few crashes, together with one which triggered a 20-acre brush hearth in japanese Oregon. An Amazon spokesperson did not instantly reply to a request for touch upon retention in its drone supply staff and reviews of crashes.

Amazon reached a key milestone in August of 2020 when the Federal Aviation Administration gave it approval to function its fleet of Prime Air supply drones.

WATCH: Amazon will get FAA approval to function a fleet of supply drones