Latest news with #MK30
Mint
21-05-2025
- Mint
Amazon will now deliver iPhones and AirPods to users' doorsteps using drones: How it works
Getting your goods delivered by drones seems straight out of a science fiction movie but it became an actual reality in 2022 when Amazon truly began drone deliveries in the US. Amazon states that you can simply tap the "place your order" button, and the entire process takes around 60 minutes or less. However, Amazon is now starting to expand into more categories of devices, which will join the already existing 60,000 items eligible for drone delivery. Amazon says it has received FAA clearance to deliver new categories of items, including Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy devices, Apple AirTags, Apple AirPods, doorbells, and more. Amazon states that you will need to select the drone delivery option when you check out. You must be purchasing any of these items in an eligible area, and the item must weigh five pounds or less. You can then select your delivery address and a delivery spot at your address, such as your driveway or yard. In the screenshot Amazon has shared, we also see a map preview of the location you have selected, and you can select the exact point where the drone is going to deliver your package. Amazon will tell you precisely how long delivery is going to take. Amazon says that its latest ordering process has been fine-tuned as a result of two years of building and integrating a digital map into the drone's computer with eligible addresses. The drones can actually determine how long it will take for the drone to fly to an address. So, once the order is placed, Amazon can tell you the exact delivery time within five minutes of placing an order, informing you when you can expect your package. Amazon will also tell you if a delivery cannot be completed, along with the reason. Amazon will be doing these deliveries using its new MK30 drone. When these drones reach the delivery point, they will verify the correct location and the correct package before making the delivery. Note: This isn't available in India as of now.
The Verge
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
iPhones are on the menu for Amazon drone delivery
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has given Amazon's Prime Air drones the go-ahead to deliver new categories of devices, including products with lithium ion batteries like iPhones, AirPods, and more, Amazon has announced. The company says those product categories can be shipped to your door within 60 minutes — if you're in one of the eligible delivery areas in Arizona or Texas, that is. Amazon writes that it recently streamlined its drone deliveries. The new process includes Amazon giving you a delivery time with a five-minute window on either side, and customers no longer having to go outside and put a QR code on the ground. The first time you order one of these drone drops, you'll pick from one of the predetermined-to-be-eligible delivery zones on an aerial picture of your house. Amazon will use the same spot from then on, assuming it's clear, until you change it. The drones drop packages from about 13 feet in the air, so it's a good idea to keep your pets or kids inside during the delivery window. At the moment, drone deliveries are only available in College Station, Texas, and in the West Valley part of the Phoenix, Arizona metro area, and only when the weather is favorable. The deliveries come via Amazon's new MK30 drones, a key part of the drone delivery program the company has been working to get off the ground for over a decade. MK30s are limited to 5-pound packages, but they can fly farther than the drones it used previously, and can even handle light rain. Last year, Amazon managed to get FAA approval to fly its drones beyond the visual line of sight of its operators, greatly expanding where it can actually make its deliveries.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon's Delivery Drones Are Crashing, and We Finally Know Why
Amazon, the multi-trillion dollar e-commerce monolith, seemingly cheaped out on on a key feature installed on its six-propeller delivery drones. Predictably, this backfired almost immediately. On a (lightly) rainy December day at the company's testing range in Oregon, not one but two Prime Air drones suddenly stopped spinning their propellers mid-flight and plummeted some 200 feet to the ground. The crashes, which destroyed both aircraft, happened within minutes of each other. And now, Bloomberg reports, we know why. According to documents from the National Transportation Safety Board, bad readings from the drones' onboard lidar sensors led the drones to believe they had already landed. Their software, thinking it was on solid ground, cluelessly cut off power to the propellers. But that's not all. After Amazon decided to remove them, the drones no longer had backup sensors that were equipped on older versions. And these probably would've prevented the drones from shutting down, per Bloomberg's sources. Amazon denies this line of thinking. "Bloomberg's reporting is misleading," an Amazon spokesperson told the newspaper. "Statements that assume that replacing one system with another would have prevented an accident in the past is irresponsible." Per the NTSB documents, a botched software update made the lidar sensors more susceptible to being thrown off by rain. Lidar is short for light detection and ranging, a form of technology that uses lasers to scan surroundings in a similar manner to radar. A glitch may have been the main reason, but it definitely sounds like it could've been easily avoidable had Amazon kept the redundant system from its previous drone, the MK27. The backup sensors came in the form of two metal prongs on the bottom of the drone called squat switches. When the drone lands, the switches are depressed, providing confirmation that it's on solid ground. A source told Bloomberg that the MK27 drone's software was originally designed to confirm a landing only when two of its three sensors agreed. This was removed with the MK30, and it's unclear why. Reducing costs could be one reason, and it's not uncommon to remove redundant systems to streamline a device. It could also be because of a shift in how Amazon intends to deliver packages with its drones, according to a Bloomberg source. The MK27 was designed to make deliveries by landing in a customer's yard, with enclosed propellers to make them safer. The MK30 moved away from this and drops packages from around a dozen feet in the air. This is far from the only setback Amazon has faced during its drone development, which it first announced back in 2013. In 2021, a drone crash sparked an acres-wide blaze in Oregon, and outside of incidents like that, many residents living where the drones are being trialed simply find them annoying. After the latest December SNAFU, Amazon halted future experiments for months — though it maintained that the crashes weren't the "primary reason" — and only recently lifted the pause. Overall, development has been sluggish and the project remains years behind schedule. Currently, Amazon is only carrying out drone deliveries in College Station, Texas, and Tolleson, Arizona. More on Amazon: The NYPD Is Sending Drones to the Sites of 9-1-1 Calls
New York Post
16-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Amazon delivery drones crashed after company removed safety sensor
Amazon's cutting-edge delivery drones fell from the sky during a December test flight after a software update made them vulnerable to rain — an avoidable disaster made worse by the company's decision to remove a critical safety sensor, according to a report citing federal documents. The twin crashes of Amazon's MK30 drones in Oregon occurred just minutes apart on Dec. 16, when both aircraft abruptly shut off mid-air at an altitude of more than 200 feet and slammed into the ground, Bloomberg News reported. The autonomous drones incorrectly believed they had landed, triggering an automatic shutdown of their propellers while flying, according to the report. Advertisement An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the cause on faulty lidar readings made worse by the rain and a software tweak that increased the sensors' sensitivity, Bloomberg reported. 3 Amazon's cutting-edge delivery drones fell from the sky during a December test flight after a software update made them vulnerable to rain, according to a report. Amazon The NTSB told The Post that the drones 'erroneously determined they had touched down due to an incorrect altitude reading from a new software installation, which resulted in a loss of engine power.' In a potentially crucial misstep, Amazon had removed backup 'squat switches' — metal prongs used in earlier models to physically confirm a landing — leaving the aircraft reliant solely on sensor input, according to Bloomberg. Advertisement The absence of this fail-safe likely contributed to the crashes, three people briefed on the matter told Bloomberg. Amazon strongly pushed back on those claims. 'Bloomberg's reporting is misleading,' spokesperson Kate Kudrna told The Post. Advertisement 'Statements that assume that replacing one system with another would have prevented an accident in the past is irresponsible.' Kudrna said Amazon has incorporated 'multiple sensor inputs' to prevent false readings from causing future crashes. She added that the MK30 drone is both safer and more reliable than its predecessor and complies with Federal Aviation Administration standards. The crashes mark another hurdle for Amazon's decade-long effort to launch a scalable drone delivery operation. Advertisement First unveiled by then-CEO Jeff Bezos in 2013, the drone initiative was billed as a technological leap that would enable packages to be delivered in under 30 minutes. 3 Two of Amazon's MK30 drones crashed during a test flight just minutes apart in Oregon this past December, according to the report. Amazon Bezos predicted at the time that drones would be dropping packages within five years. That promise has yet to materialize. Amazon's drone project has been hampered by repeated delays, technical glitches and regulatory challenges. A 2021 crash at its Pendleton, Ore., test site sparked a fire. The December accidents led to a temporary pause in drone testing. Last year, the mayor of College Station, Texas, a town located around 100 miles northwest of Houston, wrote a letter to the FAA complaining that Amazon's drones were making too much noise. Amazon resumed flight operations in March after receiving FAA approval for updated altitude-sensing systems. The MK30 drone, which replaced the earlier MK27 model, can fly up to 67 miles per hour and deliver packages within a 7.5-mile radius. Advertisement 3 Amazon strongly pushed back on the claims made in the Bloomberg story. AP While the MK27 relied on a combination of lidar and squat switches to confirm landings, the MK30 depends solely on camera-based computer vision and software redundancy to make that determination. Critics say the shift away from physical fail-safes reflects a broader industry trend toward streamlining hardware in favor of software solutions, often to cut weight and production costs. The MK30, for example, no longer lands in backyards like its predecessor. Advertisement Instead, it hovers and drops packages from about 13 feet up — an operational change that reduces the risk of human contact with its now more-exposed propellers. Deliveries remain limited to College Station and the greater Phoenix area, with planned expansions to Kansas City, the Dallas area, San Antonio and international markets like the UK and Italy. Despite these milestones, the program is still far from Bezos's original vision of a drone-powered logistics revolution.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon: BofA says robots/AVs could address 34% of total costs
-- Bank of America sees significant cost-saving potential in Amazon's growing use of robotics and autonomous vehicles (AVs), telling investors in a note Monday that the technologies could address up to 34% of the company's total costs. BofA said Amazon's robotics push is 'instrumental to improving Amazon's cost structure.' They explained that fulfillment and shipping each account for about 17% of Amazon's total costs, and both are areas where automation is increasingly being deployed. 'We believe delivery could be another area of material cost savings,' analysts wrote, highlighting the ramp-up of Zoox AVs and new MK30 drones. At its recent Delivering the Future event, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) unveiled eight new robots—including Tipper, ZancaSort, and Vulcan—designed to increase efficiency across delivery stations and fulfillment centers. Amazon said robots already assist with roughly 75% of customer orders, but BofA expects that 'robot touchpoints per package' will grow as the company integrates more machines. The bank believes these systems could reduce labor costs, cut injury-related expenses, and improve order accuracy, helping to minimize returns, which MWPVL estimates make up about 20% of fulfillment and delivery costs. Furthermore, BofA notes that robotics are already being scaled up at Amazon's 12th Generation Fulfillment Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. CEO Andy Jassy noted that the facility 'can reduce fulfillment processing time by up to 25%' and is expected to 'drive a 25% improvement in our cost to serve during peak.' With fulfillment costs totaling $99 billion in 2024, the bank says even modest efficiency gains could have a major financial impact. 'Robots/AVs could address 34% of total costs,' BofA concluded, reaffirming its Buy rating and $230 price target on Amazon. Related articles Amazon: BofA says robots/AVs could address 34% of total costs TSX Composite set for biggest turnover since 2022 as trade tensions reshape index Citi upgrades PDD: Says tariff reductions positive for China cross-border sellers Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
