Amazon is pushing ahead its “Prime Air” drone delivery project with a new, upgraded drone that will make deliveries of online orders within 30 minutes once the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) gives its approval for the commercial launch of the service.
The new drone, which looks a bit like a plane in contrast to the original quadcopter model presented two years ago, weighs less than 55 pounds (25 kg) and has the capacity to deliver packages up to five pounds (2.3 kg) within half an hour after the online shopper has placed their order with Amazon.
With a cruising range of 24 km and an aircraft altitude of maximum 120 metres, the drone takes off and lands in a vertical position which enables it to safely drop off the parcels. Thanks to new “Sense-and-Avoid” technology, it can draw aside from the objects it encounters on its way. With a high degree of automation, the new model can even search for a sufficiently big landing place in an independent way, according to the company.
“We're excited about Prime Air – a future delivery system designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less. Prime Air has great potential to enhance the services we already provide to millions of customers by providing rapid parcel delivery that will also increase the overall safety and efficiency of the transportation system. Putting Prime Air into service will take some time, but we will deploy when we have the regulatory support needed to realize our vision,” Amazon said on its website.
The e-commerce giant highlighted the importance of safety when developing the drone: “Safety is our top priority. Our vehicles will be built with multiple redundancies, as well as sophisticated “sense and avoid” technology. We will not launch Prime Air until we are able to demonstrate safe operations.”
The company is testing many different vehicle designs and delivery mechanisms to discover how best to deliver packages in a variety of environments. “We have more than a dozen prototypes that we’ve developed in our research and development labs. The look and characteristics of the vehicles will evolve over time.” Amazon has Prime Air development centres in the USA, the United Kingdom and Israel.
In April this year, Amazon’s ambition to launch drone deliveries in the USA was given a boost by the FAA. Approving a second application, the FAA gave Amazon permission until April 30, 2017, for more extensive tests, as long as the drones fly no higher than 400 feet from the ground and no faster than 100 miles per hour.
The previous month, the authority already gave the company permission to test a specific type of drone under strict operating conditions. But Amazon later disclosed that it had taken so long even to get this permission that the prototype machine was no longer usable, and it submitted the second application.
