Almost a decade after Jeff Bezos revealed the company's grand plan for drone delivery, it has yet to establish a regular service.
While the company has invested huge amounts of money in the initiative and assembled teams to design, build, and refine its delivery drone, the widespread deployment of a drone delivery service with package-carrying Amazon drones buzzing to customers' homes still seems a ways off.
To let everyone know that its drone team is still intact and focused on its goal to use diminutive flying machines for last-mile deliveries, Amazon this week unveiled a new drone design, as well as plans for a trial service where customers can have the new machine deliver orders to their homes.
The service will start in Lockeford later this year.
The trial service will allow customers to browse a selection of Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon. An estimated delivery time will be provided, along with the ability to track the drone as it makes its way to its destination, if you hit the "BUY" button.
The package will be lowered to the ground using a tether after it is received by the customer.
The people involved in the trial will be invited to give feedback to the Amazon team so that they can improve the service.
Amazon said it has created a "sophisticated and industry-leading sense- and-avoid system that will enable operations without visual observers and allow our drones to operate at greater distances while safely and reliably avoiding other aircraft, people, pets, and obstacles."
More than two dozen prototypes of its delivery drones have been completed by the e-commerce giant.
The challenge for Amazon and its competitors is creating an effective and reliable air traffic control system that can handle a lot of drones. The FAA needs to be satisfied with the platform's safety before the final decision can be made.
Walmart is one of the high-profile operators working on drones. Both have already launched small-scale trial services in the U.S., while Lockeford will be Amazon's first such initiative.
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