E-Commerce conglomerate Amazon has announced that it will start using drones to deliver products later this year.
The company plans to start drone deliveries in Lockeford, California, following approval by the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) granted in 2020.
Amazon said deliveries will be done in customers’ backyards and the feedback given will help to improve its systems over time. Companies such as Walmart and Alphabet are already making drone deliveries. Walmart reported that its drone delivery program is available to four million households.
Amazon said the drone service which has been thoroughly tested “can also detect moving objects on the horizon, like other aircraft, even when it’s hard for people to see them.”
“If obstacles are identified, our drone will automatically change course to safely avoid them.”
The drone is also able to detect that there aren’t people, animals or other obstacles at the delivery site, which is an important safety measure.
Prime Air, a subsidiary of Amazon is one of the only three drone-delivery companies to have successfully obtained the FAA air carrier certificate.
“It took years of inventing, testing, and improving to develop these breakthrough technologies, and we’re excited to use them to make customer deliveries,” Amazon said.
The company further stated that customers in Lockeford will be able to identify items eligible items from the site and subsequently place an order.
There is also a status tracker to help customers keep tabs while a drone delivery is being made. On arrival at the designated delivery location, the drone will descend to the customer’s backyard, hover within a safe height before safely releasing the package and rising back up.
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