Amazon's delivery drones are back in the air
Amazon is restarting drone deliveries in its two test markets after a two-month pause to update software.
The retail giant began delivering packages via Prime Air in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona, as it works through the kinks of the new service. But it stopped the deliveries for two months after realizing there was an issue with its drone altitude sensor caused by the dusty air of the two cities, CNBC reported.
Amazon (AMZN) said it 'never experienced an actual safety issue,' but paused to update the technology nonetheless. To resume the deliveries, it needed approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
'Safety underscores everything we do at Prime Air, which is why we paused our operations to conduct a software update on the MK30 drone,' Amazon spokesperson Av Zammit told CNBC. 'The updates are now complete and were approved by the FAA, allowing us to resume deliveries.'
David Carbon, who leads the program for Amazon, wrote on Linkedin, 'The Prime Air Team is creating a faster future for our customers today,' saying it managed to deliver ZzzQuil (PG) just 31 minutes after it was ordered. Carbon said the quickest delivery has been around 15 minutes.
The program has faced pushback in College Station, where residents reportedly likened the sounds emitted by Amazon's 80-pound-or-so drones to 'flying chainsaws' and ceaseless leaf blowing. When Amazon proposed expanding its flying in College Station last year, residents, homeowners' groups, and even the mayor reportedly pushed back. Locals hit the FAA with around 150 comments challenging the expansion.
Amazon said it wants to be able to deliver 500 million packages via drone a year by 2030, a long delay from its original goals.
In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos suggested that Amazon's drone program was 'four, five years' away from its debut. But the company didn't formally launch drone deliveries until 2022. In May 2023, Amazon celebrated its 100th drone delivery — a sign that it was lagging behind competitors such as Alphabet's Wing
—Harri Weber contributed to this article.
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